Pandora's Cauldron
by ArsenicAngel
Summary: After a detention with Professor Snape leaves her with questions, Hermione goes on a search to discover what drives her mysterious Potions Master. A search that leads her into a world of mastery and submission, and opens a Pandora's box between the two.
1. Detention

**Disclaimer:** I obviously don't own anything Harry Potter related, and I'm not making any money off the writing of this. It's all for my own perverted amusement! :)

In case it was missed in the summary: this is gonna have BDSM themes. So if you're offended by that, then bugger off now. Because you've officially been warned, and I shall use flames to light candles for wax play.

Thank you to my two amazing betas, Lorcalon, and VIVAvivacious - You both are amazing!

* * *

"Miss Granger," Severus Snape drawled, swooping up behind the young witch's lab table and glowering down at her with his arms folded over his chest. "I can think of several more pleasurable ways to spend my Friday evening than overseeing you in detention, but since you _insist_ on interrupting my class, I will be forced to suffer through it." His tone had grown harsher as he spoke, until his distaste was clearly evident in each word.

Hermione looked up at him with a mixture of anger and shock. Her cheeks were flushed from the former, and her voice rose a bit as she responded. "But sir -"

"_Silence_," he hissed sharply, causing her mouth to snap closed as she glared at him. "You will arrive at eight for your detention, Miss Granger. Do not tempt me to make it more unpleasant for you." With that, he stalked away to the head of the classroom in a swirl of black robes, leaving her glaring after him in resentment.

/-/SSHG/-/

The remainder of her day passed uneventfully, for which Hermione was grateful. But her detention stayed on her mind throughout dinner, getting her worked up every time she thought about it. Even with the war over with, Snape was a bastard to the 'Golden Trio', and still singled them out more than any other students. Ron and Harry had both avoided placing Potions on their schedules, and though they hadn't escaped Snape's snide remarks and maltreatment completely, they no longer had to deal with it in class. Hermione, on the other hand, had chosen academics over near-freedom from the greasy git, and had become his primary target during lessons.

When she entered the Potions classroom at eight exactly, she was annoyed to find that her professor was nowhere to be seen. "Doesn't even have the courtesy to be on time when _he's_ the one who gave me the damn detention," she muttered angrily under her breath as she dropped her bag on the floor and sat on one of the lab tables. For nearly twenty minutes, she sat, tapping her foot impatiently as she waited, until the classroom door finally opened again.

Snape swept into the room with his usual scowl in place, and stopped a few feet away from Hermione, who was now glaring at him in annoyance. "Well, Miss Granger, it seems your detention can finally begin. You may go and sort my storeroom now. _Enjoy_," he sneered, moving behind his desk and sitting down. Hermione didn't move for a minute, expecting him to say something more. But when he dipped a quill in his inkpot and began scratching undoubtedly scathing remarks on an essay, she knew he had tuned her out.

With a sigh, she made her way to the storeroom and groaned when she saw the stack of boxes in one corner. No doubt, he had left them there purposely for her to put away. Opening the top one, she got to work stocking the shelves with the tiny glass bottles. She had only gotten through half of the second box when ten o'clock rolled around. She gladly closed the box and trudged back out into the classroom to retrieve her bag.

"And what are you doing, Miss Granger?" Snape asked without looking up from the Potions book he was reading.

Hermione paused with her hand on the strap of her bag, about ready to hoist it onto her shoulder. "It's ten o'clock, Sir..."

"Quite the observation, but as I'm sure you have gathered, I am capable of telling time as well. And by my telling, you still have twenty minutes in your detention." He had looked up from his text as he spoke and met her gaze with his usual controlled expression.

"Wh-No!" she exclaimed, forgetting herself in the fresh wave of annoyance at his behavior. "My detention began at eight, and it is now ten!"

"No, Miss Granger," Snape growled, rising and leaning over his desk, placing his hands on it for support and narrowing his eyes as he spoke. "Your detention began at twenty past, and it will _end_ at twenty past. Now _get back to work_."

"_I_ was here **on time**, _Professor_. It's not my fault that you are incapable of doing the same, and I should not be punished for it!" she spat.

"**TWO HUNDRED POINTS FROM GRYFFINDOR, MISS GRANGER!**" Snape roared, rounding his desk in a few strides to stand only about a foot away to glower down at her. "Now _get. Back. To. Work._"

"You're nothing but a tyrannical, autocratic bastard, you great bl-" Before she could finish her sentence, Snape was leaning over her with a menacing expression.

"Great _what_, Miss Granger? 'Great bloody bat'?" Her eyes widened slightly, and his lips twisted into a cruel smirk. "I thought as much. You all believe that the 'greasy git' couldn't possibly hear the insults you mutter in response to your _deserved_ punishments, but you are most certainly incorrect."

Hermione let out an involuntary whimper and looked down at the ground despite herself. As if burned by the action, Snape retreated a few paces and his voice seemed slightly less volatile when he spoke next. "Consider your detention finished for the evening...Now get out." Without hesitation, Hermione scrambled out of the room as quickly as possible, leaving her bag behind in her haste.

/-/SSHG/-/

By the time she had made it to the common room, her nerves had settled a bit from the encounter. Ron and Harry were absorbed in a game of wizards' chess, and hadn't seen her climb in through the portrait hole. For a moment, she contemplated gaining their attention, and then thought better of it and slipped up the stairs to her dormitory while she was still unnoticed. She had been given her own room now that she was Head Girl, and it was moments like these she was grateful for it. With a sigh, she tossed herself onto the maroon and gold sheets and looked up at the top of her four-poster bed.

She replayed their encounter in her mind, trying to figure out just what it was that had happened. Snape hadn't acted his usual snarky self when he ordered her from the classroom, and it confused her. "What did I do?" she wondered aloud, rolling over in frustration so that she was on her stomach and looking out the window beside her bed. The last thing she clearly remembered was insulting him, and then he was suddenly so close to her. He had been pretty well in her face, his sharp, hooked nose just a few inches from her own, and his uneven, slightly yellowed teeth had been bared for a moment before she had looked away.

At first, his voice was violent and angry, but when he'd spoken again after she broke eye contact, he had seemed to be suddenly distracted. And the way he had recoiled from her had been as if she had somehow offended him. As she thought about it, the only explanation she could think of was that she had done something wrong when she had become timid. She turned that idea over in her mind with a frown creasing her brow. It seemed strange, to think a man who was so authoritarian with his students and always demanded silent obedience in his classroom would flinch away from such a response.

The more she thought about it, the more it began to irk her that the only explanation she could think of only brought about more questions. For nearly an hour, she lay, draped over the sides of her bed, glaring out the window as she struggled to find a more logical reason for her professor's behavior. But when her small, bedside clock began flashing midnight, she was still stuck with the same, frustrating idea.

"I have to figure this out," she muttered, pushing herself up off her bed, her muscles crying out in protest to the change of position. As she trudged to the bathroom to prepare for bed, she promised herself that she would watch Professor Snape more closely for a while. And by the time she finally slipped into her warm and inviting bed, her nagging sense of curiosity had subsided for the night, temporarily appeased by the chance to observe the man and solve the puzzle he had created for her.


	2. Forgotten Something

**Disclaimer:** I obviously don't own anything Harry Potter related, and I'm not making any money off the writing of this. It's all for my own perverted amusement! :)

My muse likes reviews - they give her motivation to cooperate with me, which then allows me to update quicker. So yay! Sorry that this one's a lil short again, but I promise the next chapter is going to be a bit longer!

Thank you to my two amazing betas, Lorcalon, and VIVAvivacious - You both are amazing!

* * *

Saturday morning was chilly, and Hermione woke up not wanting to leave the comfortable warmth of her bed. But as she glanced at the clock on her nightstand, and contemplated another hour of sleep, her stomach growled loudly. Reluctantly, she got out of bed and got dressed for the day, thinking only about getting breakfast down in the Great Hall. When she made it down to the common room, she was surprised to find it empty. She frowned as she looked around, wondering why her two best friends had gone down to breakfast without her. Once she entered the Great Hall, though, she had her answer.

Harry, Ron, and the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team were in full gear as they dug in to plates of scrambled eggs and bacon. The Slytherin team, also in full gear, was huddled at one end of their table, and glaring across the hall at Harry and Ron, who were making gestures as they spoke to each other. As she made her way towards her usual seat across from the two, her eyes traveled to the staff table briefly, pausing only for a moment on Professor Snape's empty chair. She shrugged his absence off, as it wasn't unusual for him to leave meals quickly, and breakfast was nearly over now.

"...for Vaisey. He's been vicious in the practices," Harry was saying when Hermione sat down, quickly filling her plate.

"Hey, 'Mione!" Ron said around a mouthful of scrambled eggs, nodding at her and then turning back to Harry. "So what if Malfoy starts in on you again?"

"I've got Peakes aiming for him while Coote goes after their Chasers. As long as you stay in the bloody goal today, we should be fine," Harry muttered, taking a bite of his toast. Ron rolled his eyes.

"It was _one_ practice, Harry! You just focus on catching the snitch and don't worry about me and the goals."

Hermione stifled a giggle and shot her friends a mock-disapproving look. "You know, if the two of you put half the energy into your school work that you do into Quidditch, I wouldn't have to help you all the time."

Both boys groaned, looking as if they were about to protest her reference to homework on their weekend, when suddenly Harry slapped his forehead. "I completely forgot! Have you started that Charms essay yet?"

Ron's eyes widened slightly and he quickly turned his attention back to his plate. Hermione sighed and shook her head at the two of them. "I've finished it, actually."

Harry and Ron exchanged a quick glance before turning to look at her with innocent smiles. "Could you help us with it after the game tonight?"

"Yeah, 'Mione, please?"

For a moment, she left the two of them to wonder while she gave them a disapproving look with her arms folded over her chest. Once they started to look a little nervous that she'd decline, she finally relaxed and dug back into her breakfast with a nod. "When don't I?"

"And that's why we love you!" Ron exclaimed playfully, his grin unfaltering when Hermione shot him a glare.

/-/SSHG/-/

The first Quidditch match of the season was a miserable one for Gryffindor. Draco Malfoy had taken over as Slytherin's keeper, and had only failed to block five goals; Ron, on the other hand, had let seventeen shots through the goal before the snitch was caught. Harper, the new Seeker for the Slytherin team had snatched the snitch from right under Harry's nose, winning the game with a score of 320 - 50.

After such a devastating loss, Hermione wasn't surprised that her two best friends trudged into the common room after the match with sullen expressions. She had reserved the couch in front of the fireplace for the three of them, and both boys seemed glad of it when they collapsed onto the overstuffed cushions. "That was miserable," Ron muttered as he leaned back over an arm of the couch, staring up at the ceiling. "What happened to us, Harry?"

"Just a bad day, I guess, mate."

Hermione rolled her eyes at them, giving both a painful flick in the shin. "Stop moping, both of you. You have the rest of the season to make up for it, and only this weekend to finish your homework." Her words were met with a loud groan from the two, which made her roll her eyes.

"Do we have to do this now, 'Mione?" Harry grumbled, mocking Ron's position over the opposite arm of the couch.

"Yes. You asked for help on the Charms essay, and I know full well you have other homework to finish. So let me just go get my ba-..." Hermione froze in the middle of her sentence, her eyes widening slightly. "Oh my god, I left my bag!" she exclaimed, jumping up.

Harry and Ron exchanged a confused look as she darted towards the portrait hole. "Where?"

"In the dungeons! Be right back!" she yelled over her shoulder as the portrait swung closed behind her.

/-/SSHG/-/

When Hermione reached the dungeons, she entered the unlocked Potions classroom and looked around, hoping to find her bag still sitting beside the desk where she had abandoned it. After checking every lab table and not seeing it, she made her way to the front of the room, where the door to Professor Snape's office was. She raised her fist to knock, but before she was able to, the door flew open and her teacher glared down at her.

He loomed over her, narrowing his eyes as he saw her begin to wring her hands nervously. "Professor, I..."

"While I find the sound of my wards blaring endlessly to be ever so pleasant, whatever you have to say, Miss Granger, can and will wait until your class on Monday. Now if you'll excuse me, I have an important potion to tend to," he hissed, slamming the door in her face.

Hermione stared at the door for a moment in stunned silence before finally knocking on it loudly. "But, Professor!" she yelled, hoping that he would hear her and come back. "Please, sir! I left my bag!" She knocked on the door, calling after her professor for several minutes before she finally gave a frustrated sigh and stormed from the classroom. Making her way back up to Gryffindor tower, she seethed in anger, wondering how she was going to redo three separate essays in just over a day.

"Hey, I thought you were getting your bag," Harry said when she climbed back through the portrait hole.

"I _was_. And I would have succeeded if Snape wasn't such a bloody git and hadn't slammed the door in my face before I could ask for it."

"Well, hell...now how are you going to help us with our Charms?" Ron muttered, looking worried, then afraid as Hermione spun on her heels to face him.

"How am I going to help you with your homework? _That's_ what you're concerned with? Not even an ounce of consideration for all of my own work that was in my bag, that I will now have to redo. You're too concerned with the work that _you_ decided to put off doing, knowing that if you put it off till the last second, I always come through to save you. Well you know what, Ronald? Not this time! Write your own bloody essay!"

Leaving a stunned Ron behind her, Hermione stomped up to the girls' dormitory and opened the trunk at the foot of her bed. She kept an extra, small bag in there, just in case something were to happen to her original. Yanking it out of the bottom, she stuffed several sheets of parchment, a few quills, and an ink pot into the bag, slammed her trunk closed, and went back down to the common room.

"'Mione..." Ron started, doing his best to look apologetic as the fuming girl stalked past him.

"I don't believe you're sorry, no, I will not help you, and yes, I am serious," she hissed angrily. "I'm going to the library. And don't bother following me, either of you."


	3. Unusual Behavior

**Disclaimer:** I obviously don't own anything Harry Potter related, and I'm not making any money off the writing of this. It's all for my own perverted amusement! :)

Reviews are appreciated, cause the plot bunnies like carrots, and the muse likes encouragement.

Thank you to my two amazing betas, Lorcalon, and VIVAvivacious - You both are amazing!

* * *

Hermione slipped into the nearly deserted library, thankful that most students avoided it on the weekends, leaving it quiet and peaceful. A few first years were studying at a table near the door, and she passed them quickly, a sour expression still on her face. "'What about my homework?' Merlin, he's so self-centered," Hermione grumbled angrily to herself, as she weaved between tables and bookshelves, heading towards the back of the library. There was a table near the restricted section that was more secluded than the others, ensuring her a quiet place to do her work. When she reached it, she tossed her bag into one of the chairs, and then disappeared into the surrounding shelves to find the books she would need to rewrite her assignments.

Ten minutes later, Hermione was sitting at the table with a small stack of books to her right, and her bag's contents organized in front of her. She frowned at the collection of books for a moment, wondering which essay would be the best to start with. Sighing softly, she pulled the two Potions texts she had gathered, and pushed the others aside. She opened the two books she had selected beside her parchment and began flipping through their pages as she searched for the information she needed. "Where is that ruddy section?" she hissed, flipping through the book in front of her a second time, having skipped over what she was searching for the first time. Forcing herself to calm down, she skimmed through the text at a slower pace, finally coming to the section headed, '_Veritaserum_'.

Three and a half hours later, she finally laid her quill down with a sigh, leaning back in her chair and rubbing the backs of her hands against her eyes. Her four rolls for Potions, as well as her two for Transfigurations were finished, but her energy was drained. "I'll do Charms tomorrow," she said as she carefully placed her things back into her bag, slipping the finished essays on top. Glancing at her watch, she let out a loud gasp when she realized it was already past midnight. In her anger over Professor Snape and Ron's behavior, she had missed dinner in favor of relieving her frustrations with school work. Now, though, her stomach was protesting that action with a loud growl.

Despite knowing that her curfew had passed twenty minutes before, Hermione decided that a quick trip down to the kitchens was worth the extra risk of being caught. With her bag draped over one shoulder, she slipped through the empty library and out into the dark corridor. Deciding that lighting her wand would likely her caught, she relied on the full-moon's light that streamed through the windows to find her way in the darkened castle. Once she made it down into the dungeons, however, she had no other choice than to pull her wand from the pocket of her robe and cast a whispered '_lumos_'.

One of the portraits to her right grumbled at her in annoyance until she tucked her wand into the sleeve of her robes, the black fabric restricting the light from the spell. The beam of light that was not being hidden by her robe was directed at the floor in front of her as she made her way along the familiar path to the kitchens. She tickled the pear on the large portrait that marked the entrance and stepped quickly inside when it swung aside to admit her.

"Miss Hermione!" squeaked Dobby, popping up beside her as she slipped her now-extinguished wand back into a pocket of her robes. "Is Harry Potter and his Weezy with you?"

Hermione smiled at the small elf, shaking her head. "Sorry, Dobby, they're not with me."

"Well, how can Dobby be helping you tonight?" Kneeling down so that she was closer to Dobby's level, Hermione gave him another smile.

"I kind of missed dinner tonight, so I was hoping that you..."

Before she was able to finish speaking, Dobby bounded away from her, humming to himself. Not sure what to do, she stood back up and looked around for a moment, hoping to see a bowl of fruit or some pastries on one of the counters. A moment later, though, Dobby came bouncing towards her again, carrying a plate of food with him. He pushed it eagerly into Hermione's hands, delighted when she picked up a sandwich and took a bite. Dobby watched her eat the sandwich, rocking on his heels happily. As soon as she had finished, he snatched the plate from her and began nudging her towards the portrait. "Brings the Weezy and Harry Potter next times, yes? But for now, you must be goings! Dobby is glads to be helping, but even Dobby needs his sleep, Miss!"

Hermione didn't have the chance to respond before she found herself standing in the dungeon corridor again, watching the portrait swing closed. Chuckling to herself over Dobby's antics, she pulled her wand out again and used it to see her way back out of the dungeons.

/-/SSHG/-/

She had made it up to the tower without encountering any professors, and was feeling much more relaxed as she approached the portrait of the Fat Lady. Rapping lightly on the frame, she waited for the woman to cease her snoring and open her eyes before trying to speak the password. "Canary Cr-"

"Miss Granger," Snape's baritone interrupted from behind her, sending an unexplained shiver down her spine. "A know-it-all like yourself surely realizes that roaming about the castle at night is against the rules, and yet here I find you." Hermione turned to look up at her Professor, opening her mouth to speak before he cut her off with a quick wave of his hand. "Seventy-five points from Gryffindor, and detention on Monday evening."

"But Professor!" she began to protest, only to be cut off by him stepping closer and sneering down at her.

"Ten more points for arguing with me, Miss Granger. Now I suggest you get to your room before I am _forced_ to deduct more." His expression as he glared down at her left no room for argument on her part, and she couldn't stop herself from looking down and muttering quietly, "Yes, sr..."

Hermione heard Snape's sharp intake of breath before he quickly retreated, much as he had done the night before. She thought she saw a flash of uncertainty in his expression before he managed to get his features under control again. Hestood there silently for a moment, and then turned on his heel and stalked away down the corridor.

"I'd like to go back to sleep you know!" Hermione was startled by the Fat Lady's voice, and jumped slightly at the sound.

"Oh, uhm...Sorry. Canary Creams..."

/-/SSHG/-/

"Please do not abandon your personal property in my classroom again, Miss Granger. I am not running a storage facility," Professor Snape said, dropping Hermione's bag on the table in front of her. He had begun the class by demanding the essays he had assigned the week prior, then set the students to work on the potion he had scrawled the instructions for on the board. She looked up at him from the potion she was stirring, giving him a barely concealed glare. The corner of his lip twitched as if he was holding back a smirk, and then he turned away from her to examine the work of the other students. With an annoyed sigh, Hermione returned her attention to her cauldron, adding the next ingredient to the bubbling potion.

To her relief, the remainder of the lesson passed without further comment from her teacher. But as she was heading towards the door with her school bag over her shoulder, she froze as his voice carried across the emptying room. "Come here, Miss Granger." Hermione sighed and trudged up to Snape's desk, determinedly meeting his gaze.

"Yes, Professor?"

"Do not forget that you have a detention this evening for breaking curfew over the weekend. And you will serve another tomorrow, as well." Hermione's eyes widened slightly as Snape held up her essay and tore it in half in front of her. "I do not accept forged work."

"_What_ are you talking about? I wrote that myself!"

Snape rose from his seat and placed his hands on the edge of his desk, leaning forward towards the young witch. "I know for a fact, Miss Granger, that your essay resided in the bag you left in my classroom over the weekend, and was unfinished. The only way you could have produced a full-length, finished essay in two days would be to copy from another student."

"With all due respect, _sir_, I am more than capable of producing a suitable essay in two days. Which I wouldn't have had to do if you had allowed me to get my bag on Saturday when I asked!"

"As I recall, you never asked me for the return of your property."

Hermione was dumbstruck at his words, and it took her a moment to respond, her face flushed with anger. "I knocked on your door and yelled for several minutes!"

"And I cannot be expected to comply with requests that I do no hear, Miss Granger. Now if you continue to question my authority, you will have detention for the remainder of the week."

"Fine!" she hissed angrily, folding her arms over her chest. "I guess you'll just have to suffer through my presence then!"

Hermione turned and stalked away from Snape's desk without waiting for him to reply, glaring straight ahead as she seethed in anger. She never saw the quirk of his lip as he made a quick motion with his wand, restoring her essay to its original state.


	4. Musings

Disclaimer: I obviously don't own anything Harry Potter related, and I'm not making any money off the writing of this. It's all for my own perverted amusement! :)

Sorry this took so long to get up, but I've been busy with a freelance project. Feed my plot bunnies carrots(reviews) and maybe they'll offer up a special treat in the next chapter...*wink*

Thank you to my two amazing betas, Lorcalon, and VIVAvivacious - You both are amazing!

* * *

On her way down to the dungeons that evening, Hermione thought back over the encounters she had had with Professor Snape since her first detention on Friday. He had withdrawn from her again on Saturday, but acted as usual when she stood up to him after class. The only common factor in the two nights he had acted unusually was that she had behaved submissive immediately before. She had observed him more than normal during the lesson that afternoon, and noticed that he never had a similar reaction with the other students. As she considered that more, she realized that while other students gave in to him out of intimidation, she had not. It surprised her to realize that when she had given in to him, it had not been because of his authority as a teacher, or his attempts to intimidate her. Though what the real reason was, she wasn't sure.

Throughout her detention, Hermione was preoccupied with her musing, only to be startled out of her thoughts when she knocked a precariously perched bottle of basilisk venom from the shelf. The sound of shattering glass was loud enough to attract Snape's attention, because a moment later, he flung open the door to his storeroom. His eyes glanced at the shards of glass and puddle of venom on the stone for only a moment before focusing on her. Snape withdrew his wand and quickly vanished the deadly liquid and its container, glaring down at Hermione as he moved closer. She looked up at him as he leaned over her, their faces only inches apart.

"Do you have any idea how difficult that venom was to come by?" Snape's voice was deceptively calm as he spoke, his breath warm against her face. Hermione looked up at him for a moment in speechless silence, when something finally clicked in her mind.

"I'm sorry, Sir," she murmured softly, lowering her eyes.

/-/SSHG/-/

Severus Snape's eyes widened slightly as he looked at the young witch in front of him. Her posture was not one of fear or nervousness, as he was used to from his students; instead, she seemed to be acting out of some other emotion. For the first time, he allowed his eyes to roam over her as he considered his own reaction. It wasn't the first time that she had behaved in a submissive manner towards him, but it was the first time that it occurred without an argument. She had gone immediately to a calm, submissive response, with no hint of anger or embarrassment; surprising. Though he may not have known her well, he knew enough of her personality to recognize that it was not her usual behavior.

His eyes raked over her in a scrutinizing manner, attempting to find some insight to her motivations. Hermione Granger was usually not one to act out of character without reason, and not arguing with him over what had clearly been an accident caused by his placement of the bottle was certainly out of character. The first time she had done it, he had been taken aback by the sudden change in her demeanor, as well as his own reaction to it. Throughout all his years of teaching, a student had never garnered that response; although he was forced to admit that it was mostly because he had never had a student who behaved truly submissive.

"As I have a strong desire to keep my stores intact, you will not be stocking them any more this evening. Get out." The young witch in front of him never raised her eyes as she moved out of the storeroom, gathered her bag, and left. Severus' black eyes followed her as she did, waiting for the door to close behind her before resuming his seat at his desk. Waving his wand at the door, he locked and warded the room for the evening. Resting his elbows on the desk, he steeped his hands in front of him, frowning as he thought his situation over more thoroughly.

Despite the war being over, Severus still kept his emotions and desires suppressed beneath a mask. But over the last few days, Granger had managed to arouse the dominant urges he had been hiding. She had matured since the final battle, and it seemed that she was finally coming into herself - and that appeared to include a submissive side. It was intriguing, and at the same time, suspicious to him. His distrustful nature made him consider the possibility that perhaps she was only playing him. Though he was unsure what she could hope to get out of such a scheme, he was more hesitant to believe that her new-found moments of submission were sincere.

Nearly an hour ticked by as he considered the best course of action. He could actively pursue the girl, risking making himself appear an ass if she were playing at something else. His other options, though, ran the risk of passing by a submissive woman who may be interested in him. While he was not smitten with the witch, he admitted to a hesitant attraction, possibly only hindered by his uncertainty of her motives. Only time would tell in that respect, and as he finally rose from his desk to enter his personal chambers, his decision seemed to be made for him.

/-/SSHG/-/

Hermione rolled over in her bed on Tuesday morning, frowning at her alarm clock as she thought about what had happened the evening before. When she had looked up at her professor as he loomed over her, the solution to unraveling his puzzle had clicked in her mind. Offering no argument on the accident that had been more his fault than her own, she had simply bowed to him in the way she had before. She had not failed to notice the long pause afterward before he finally dismissed her, and took it as a sign that he had most likely seen through her. But if she was going to find the answer to this riddle, she needed to provoke his strange responses. Every other time she had become meek in the face of his anger, he had withdrawn from her; this time, however, he hadn't. Being as determined as she was, she could see no other option than to go to the Room of Requirement.

She was ahead in her school work already, and could afford the day of missed classes. 'After all,' she mused, rummaging through her trunk for the bag of candies from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. "I'd be skipping for the sake of knowledge..." The boys didn't know that she had bought and stashed a Skiving Snackbox before the beginning of term, nor would they expect it of her. Finally pulling it from the bottom of her trunk, she snatched a piece of Fever Fudge and bit off the illness side. Carefully placing the antidote in her pocket, she carefully hid the snackbox at the bottom of her trunk again and readied herself to go down to breakfast. It would be more believable to make an appearance looking ill than to simply send her excuse with a student. And slipping to the Room would be much easier were she already out in the corridors.

Throughout her walk to the Great Hall, her mind was preoccupied with the task ahead of her. To make her search worth while, she would have to make her focus specific enough that the Room could provide her with what she needed. She only hoped that the plan would work as she thought it would - if she were wrong, she was wasting a day of classes for nothing. The fear that that may well be the case took root in her mind, and she felt a faint sense of panic at the thought. But, despite the antidote in her pocket, she decided that it was too late to back out. As she entered the Great Hall, the fudge had taken its full effect, and she felt appropriately miserable as she made her way to her usual seat at the Gryffindor table.

Unsurprisingly, everyone around her noticed, as she was almost never sick. One glance at her expression, and it was obvious that she was very ill. If it hadn't been sign enough, her hardly touched breakfast was another indication; and was certainly enough for both Ron and Harry to suggest she go back to the dormitory and rest. She struggled to look hesitant at the idea, until both told her that they would bring her work to her later. Managing to still look reluctant, she nodded slowly and gave them both a weak smile before rising. Her quickly-thought-up plan was running more smoothly than she could have hoped.

It continued to go smoothly until she reached the sixth floor, where she bumped - quite literally, and none too gracefully - into Professor Snape. Her attention had been otherwise occupied, so she didn't see him until she actually walked into his chest and fell to the floor at his feet. He was standing over her with his arms folded over his chest, smirking down at her with one eyebrow raised. "I...I'm sorry, Professor," she mumbled, looking away with a blush as she pulled herself up off the floor.

"Miss Granger." Snape's voice sounded somewhat less dismissive than she was used to, though she supposed it was her imagination. As she straightened her robes, she chanced a glance at him through her lashes, and thought she saw a hint of interest in his expression. 'Always acting so strange,' she thought.

"I would suggest you watch where you are going, Granger." The blush in her cheeks deepened, and she muttered a soft 'Yes, sir' in reply. Later, she would blame it on the fever fudge, which she still had not taken the antidote for - in case she were to run into a teacher on her way to the Room of Requirement. But at the time, it was as if her mouth had a mind of it's own as she added, "I'm sorry for holding you up with my clumsiness, sir." Ducking her head, she quickly slipped away from him towards the staircase to the seventh floor, all the more eager to reach the safety of the Room.

/-/SSHG/-/

Snape watched her go, his mask firmly in place over his confusion. She hadn't looked well, and with her strange behavior before today, he had almost expected her muttered response. What he hadn't expected was what she had added before scurrying away from him. It had sounded surprisingly sincere, and made the puzzle of her motives all the more intriguing. Was she doing this to him purposely? Or was she truly as submissive as she was beginning to seem?


	5. Finding Answers

Disclaimer: I obviously don't own anything Harry Potter related, and I'm not making any money off the writing of this. It's all for my own perverted amusement! :)

So the plot bunnies did not deliver quite the gift I had in mind for this chapter. They did, however, deliver it in the next one.

Thank you to my two amazing betas, Lorcalon, and VIVAvivacious - You both are amazing!

* * *

The Room provided her with a comfortable private room, with a small fireplace and a large, overstuffed couch, as well as a small stack of books. Now that she was safely away from teachers, she popped the antidote to her Fever Fudge into her mouth and plopped onto the couch. Plucking a book from the stack, she examined the title and frowned. "_Master Adonis's Submissive Training_?" she said aloud, her brow furrowing as she set the book aside and looked over the next. Each title provided for her seemed to have something to do with submission or something called BDSM. Leaning back on the couch, she took a moment to stare at the ceiling, worrying her lower lip nervously. Had she focused on the wrong thing while setting the room? She had been vague, thinking only that she needed to find the reason Snape was acting so strangely around her. 'Maybe I wasn't specific enough,' she thought turning to look at the pile of books once again. Though she couldn't understand the connection, it was too much of a coincidence that all the books seemed to be on the same things. Something told her this is what would help her get to the bottom of things, even if she couldn't see how just yet.

With a sigh, she grabbed the book that appeared to be the most informational, smiling as the spine crackled nicely. "At least this should be interesting," she murmured, turning past the contents page and dedications to the first chapter of _Wizarding BDSM_. The picture at the top of the page confused her. She recognized a resemblance to the ying-yang symbol, but this version with three segments was foreign to her. Much to her frustration, the page didn't explain it. By the third page, however, Hermione had all but forgotten about the strange symbol in favor of absorbing every word in front of her. Her stomach growling four hours later pulled her attention away from the book rather reluctantly. Setting it aside on the cushion next to her, she stared into the fireplace for several minutes, turning the things she had read over in her mind.

She had made her way through three quarters of the book, and while it had answered a few of her questions, it had raised many of its own. More than likely, Severus Snape was a Dominant of some kind; it suited his personality, after all. 'But what kind?' she wondered. His past as a Death Eater opened the possibility of him being quite the sadist. A shiver rippled down her spine as she thought of him holding one of the thin canes mentioned in the book. Shaking her head, Hermione rose from the couch to pace. There wasn't any question when she thought about it. Snape was definitely a Dominant. The answer she had been looking for was finally hers. Except that now, she couldn't stop wondering exactly why he had begun acting so strange with her. While reading, she had felt some connection with the submissives described. But she was hesitant to admit that she was one.

/-/SSHG/-/

When she finally left the Room of Requirement, Hermione had a bag draped over her shoulder that she hadn't been carrying that morning. A house elf had provided her with lunch and dinner so she didn't have to leave. She got so wrapped up in her reading that the time had escaped her until it was nearly curfew. What she had already learned interested her enough for her to want to take all of the books with her, and the Room provided a small bag to carry them.

"Miss Granger."

'Damn it, why is he _everywhere_?' Hermione turned to face Snape's smirking face, swallowing the sudden lump in her throat.

"As I recall, you were absent from classes today due to an illness." His eyes moved from her face to the bag on her arm, and she thought she saw a glimmer of amusement in the black orbs.

"Sir, I -"

"I don't care to hear your excuses, Granger. Give me the bag so that I may see what was _so important_ you decided to skip my class." Stifling a soft whimper, she tugged the bag from her shoulder and handed it to him. As he opened it with his smirk still in place, a blush crept into her cheeks as she suddenly found her shoes very interesting. 'Why me?'

"Granger." Snape hadn't spoken, so much as growled her name, and Hermione glanced up at him through her lashes. He was holding the copy of _Finding Your Place: A D/S Guide to Self-Discovery_, a mixture of fury and suspicion in his features. "Books of this nature are not kept in the Hogwarts library, and unless you have managed to Apparate to Diagon Alley during school hours, you have quite a bit to explain." Stepping closer, he used his height to his advantage to loom over her with a glare, sending a shiver down her spine. "Come to my office. _Now._"

/-/SSHG/-/

The walk to the dungeons was uncomfortable, to say the least. Snape was seething as he stalked behind her, and while she didn't dare look up, Hermione could feel the glare he aimed at her back. When the door to his office slammed loud enough to rattle the jars that lined the walls, she tried not to flinch.

"Explain yourself." She hadn't realized he was standing behind her until he hissed in her ear, and she inhaled sharply. Her mouth was suddenly dry as she struggled to find her voice. "Unfortunately, Granger, now would be one of the few moments I wish for you to _speak_. I would suggest you do so before I am forced to obtain my answer by other means."

"I was curious!" She held her breath as she waited for him to respond, hoping that he would accept the answer. There was a small chuckle from behind her, and she relaxed slightly with a relieved sigh.

"Of course you were. An insufferable know-it-all such as you wouldn't be able to help herself after catching wind of something new to learn. The question is..." he paused, his breath ghosting over her ear, and Hermione's eyes widened. "How did it catch your attention?" This time, his voice was calmer, lower, and sent a tremor directly to her core. Whether he was trying to arouse her or not, he had succeeded, much to her embarrassment. She attempted to stammer out a response, but couldn't seem to find one that seemed reasonable. Behind her, Snape murmured something that she was unable to make out.

"Wha-" Hermione's memory of Friday evening after her detention came to the forefront of her mind, followed quickly by her memories of her recent encounters with Snape in the halls. The thoughts and emotions that had accompanied each event resurfaced and changed with each memory. Finally, she saw herself pacing in front of the Room of Requirement again, and a brief glimpse of herself on the couch inside with her nose in one of the books. She felt unsteady for a moment when the vision dissolved, and gave her head a shake before speaking. "Legilimency..."

"Excellent observation, Granger, yes." Snape moved to his desk in front of her, all traces of anger gone from his voice and face. "I believe you still had some reading to do. Forgive me for interrupting," he finished, tossing her bag toward her with a flick of his arm. Hermione scrambled to catch it, looking up at him uncertainly. He wasn't smiling, but his eyes showed a glint of amusement, as well as another emotion she couldn't place. "I suggest you return to your dormitory for the evening."

/-/SSHG/-/

After Hermione left his office, Snape slipped into his personal quarters with his mind racing. The memories he had viewed revealed more than he could have hoped for about her motives, and served to slightly ease a few of his concerns. She was a brilliant witch, but she had no skill in Occlumency to shield what she didn't want him to see or fabricate thoughts or emotions to reveal. It was clear her behavior was instinctual, and she was as confused by it still as he had been. He had decided to let things take their course as they would, but his concern that she was playing him had remained on his mind until this evening. Now that he knew her actions were genuine, he allowed himself to consider his situation once more.

She was a student, and would remain so for several months. But she was of age and capable of making her own decisions. Whether she was truly interested in him, Severus was unable to gather from the few encounters they had had. Even her memories had not helped him greatly in that area. The possibility was there, however, and he was willing to wait and see. He had acknowledged an attraction to the witch, but he was hesitant to say he _wanted_ a relationship with her.

Their age difference and his position as her teacher weighed on him. Wizards lived longer than Muggles, and twenty years now would make little difference when they were over one hundred. Still, it was enough to make him wary of approaching her. His position as her teacher would be no hindrance, so long as Albus was made aware. The school had no rules against such things, though a few special arrangements would have to be made once it happened. 'If,' his mind corrected. 'If it happens.' Accepted by the school or not, it was no less of a concern for him. Other students, perhaps even the staff- and certainly the wizarding world at large- would only see the former Death Eater seducing his helpless student.

Taking a pinch of floo powder from the pot beside his fireplace, a small frown tugged at his lips. "Albus?" he queried, sticking his head in the flames and looking around the headmaster's office.

"Severus? Is something wrong?" The old man's voice held a touch of concern that didn't reach his eyes; they twinkled merrily as usual.

"Not at all. There's simply something I'd like to share with you."


	6. Dreams

Disclaimer: I obviously don't own anything Harry Potter related, and I'm not making any money off the writing of this. It's all for my own perverted amusement! :)

The plot bunnies are now stuffed full of carrots (and a bit of lettuce!), and have been appeased. Therefore: the first tasting of smut has been delivered. Also, this will be a double-posting day. Meaning chapter 7 is going up, too! :-) So show some extra love, k? *bats eyelashes*

Thank you to my two amazing betas, Lorcalon, and VIVAvivacious - You both are amazing!

* * *

Looking over the books spread out on her bed, Hermione frowned slightly. Snape had caught her out at skipping class and let her go with no points deduction or detention. He even encouraged her to continue reading after returning her bag. It was strange and frustrating; Professor Snape was not _nice_ to students. As she walked back to her room, she thought about their encounter and was unable to understand what happened. Once he looked into her mind, the anger that had been rolling off him in waves dissipated entirely. Something in her memories had soothed his mood and inspired him to dismiss her without a reprimand. While she couldn't think of what it may have been, it was the only explanation she was able to think of.

With a shake of her head, she pushed those thoughts from her mind and focused on her newest task: sorting through the books. She placed the ones that appeared to focus on general information on the corner of the bedside table while she considered the others. A few appeared to be similar to romance novels, though the covers suggested there was very little plot involved. Those were moved to the bookshelf beside her wardrobe, however she doubted she would read them. The five remaining books spread across the comforter were workbooks. Now that she had had a chance to begin learning, she was curious about the kind of tasks they would contain. Gathering them into her arms, she stacked them neatly on her desk in the corner and smiled.

"A place for everything," she murmured, remembering her mother's mantra from her childhood. Yawning, she grabbed the pair of pajamas from the foot-board of her bed and made her way to the bathroom to prepare for bed. She was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow fifteen minutes later.

The next thing that she saw was a pair of black leather boots beside her face, reflecting fire behind her on their polished surface. Lifting her head only an inch, Hermione pressed her lips to the toe of the closest boot, and was rewarded with the low rumbling laugh of the man above her. His hand stroked her hair lightly for a moment before long fingers threaded through her hair to the base of her skull. He closed his hand around her thick curls and pulled her head back. Before she was able to see the man's face, her eyes slipped closed with a contented hum. "Can I help you, pet?" His voice was familiar - though she was unable to place it - and his breath was warm against her cheek as he spoke. She tried to open her eyes then, hoping to glimpse his face.

Once her eyes opened, though, she saw nothing but her room in the shadows of the early hour. Cursing, she looked at her alarm clock before rolling on her back. As was always the case with dreams, time was distorted and more time had passed than she would have thought. Still, she had another two hours before breakfast would begin, and three until she was usually awake. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the stack of books on her nightstand. Despite only having four hours of sleep, she found herself feeling too awake to attempt sleep again and dragged herself from the bed.

Plucking a book from the top of the stack, Hermione sat at her desk with it laying open in front of her. Unlike the first she had read in the Room of Requirement, this book was focused on only one aspect of BDSM - submission. She began reading where she had left off earlier that evening, propping one arm on the desktop to rest her head in her hand. But within twenty minutes, she began to drift off again and was sound asleep when her head landed on the open book.

That hand was in her hair again, with warm breath against her neck. A shiver rippled down her spine when another hand caressed her sides, sliding along to the swell of her ass. Hermione let out a whimper, eliciting a dark chuckle from the man whose lips were ghosting against the curve of her throat. "Please..." Her voice was weak when she spoke, quivering with desire. Folded behind her back, her hands ached to reach out and touch him, but she obediently kept them still. She hadn't been given permission to touch him yet. Releasing the grip on her hair, the man brought his hand to her breast, roughly squeezing the soft mound of flesh.

"You need this, don't you, pet?" His voice growled into her ear, sending a tremor through Hermione's body. She struggled to respond, but her mind seemed unable to function in her current state. Moving his hand from her ass to the other breast, he roughly dug his fingers into them. It was painful, but it still sent a flood of arousal through her. "Of course you do. Filthy girl." A moaned 'yes' escaped her at his words, and then his hands were suddenly gone from her breasts. Whimpering at the loss, she went to open her eyes again. Before she was able to, his stern voice was at her ear. "Did I tell you to look at me?"

"I-I'm sorry, Sir, I didn't mean-"

"Quiet." While he didn't sound angry, he was no less commanding. Swallowing the lump that had risen in her throat, Hermione nodded her understanding. She felt a small gust of air as he rose and strode away, listening to his heavy footsteps as he walked. It was a fight to keep her eyes closed; the desire to see the man who was creating such a turmoil of arousal and nerves within her was overwhelming.

"Stand," he ordered, suddenly beside her again. Hermione hadn't heard him approaching again and jumped slightly before scrambling to her feet. A hand pressed against the small of her back, guiding her forward. The heat of the fireplace faded from her back as they moved away from it, but she could feel warmth radiating from in front of her as well. After several feet, he gave her permission to open her eyes, and she eagerly obeyed.

He had stopped her just inside the doorway of a new room. It was large, mostly covered in hazy shadows. There were murky shapes in the shadows, as if there were things being hidden from her. Blank spaces to fill in. What was visible, though, was a small cushion in the center of the floor. Furrowing her brow in confusion, Hermione turned to look over her shoulder, intending on asking the man what was going on. As she turned, however, a loud noise broke through her consciousness.

Sitting upright quickly, Hermione looked around with wide, panicked eyes. The sun had yet to break through her window, but the loud beeping of her alarm clock across the room was enough cue to the hour. It was seven. Her first class was in an hour and a half. Groaning, she rose from her desk, her muscles protesting the awkward position she had spent the last three hours in, and strode over to the nightstand to silence the alarm. For a few moments, she stood in the silence, the last hazy bits of her dream fading. She could remember the sensations and actions vividly, and it disturbed her. Despite her efforts, she had not been able to see the man's face. If that hadn't been reason enough for concern, both of her dreams that night had deeply involved the things she had read the previous day.

While she couldn't deny finding herself strangely attracted to her new finding, having such dreams was strange to her. Pulling her lower lip between her teeth, Hermione chewed it lightly as she considered the implications. She had been blatantly submissive to the man, and felt a powerful arousal at his words and actions. Even now, a ghost of that arousal was still present, and she shifted uncomfortably, conscious of the wetness between her legs. It was as thrilling as it was terrifying. Shaking her head, Hermione forced herself to move and prepare for the day. She would give herself a few days before reading any of those books again. Obviously, she had just been overwhelmed by the new knowledge...

/-/SSHG/-/

Hermione took her usual seat at the Gryffindor table for breakfast, smiling at her two best friends. "You're looking better today."

"Yeah, whatever I had yesterday must have passed," she replied quickly, relieved when Harry and Ron returned to their conversation. She tried to pay attention to what they were saying, but her mind kept returning to her dream the night before. When the door behind the staff table flew open, banging loudly against the stone walls, she jumped along with the other students. Professor Snape stormed into the room with a look of pure fury twisting his features as he approached the table. Rather than heading towards his own seat at the end, he went straight to Dumbledore's. As he slammed his hand onto the table in front of the Headmaster, Hermione saw a piece of folded parchment crumbled within it.

Most of the students had begun to turn away from the scene at the head table, shrugging it off as Snape simply being his usual self. Hermione, though, continued to watch as Snape whispered furiously. He appeared to be livid, and she couldn't help but wonder what he was whispering so animatedly about. Dumbledore smiled through what she was sure was a tirade of caustic comments, waiting until the professor had finished speaking to offer a few whispered words in response. His smile never faltered as Snape turned on his heel and stalked away with a scowl. As the door slammed shut with as much force as it had been opened with, Hermione looked down at her plate.

She had just begun eating when the mail arrived in a swarm of owls overhead. Much to her surprise, a small barn owl landed in front of her and stuck its leg out. After untying the letter, it plucked a piece of bacon from her plate and flew off.

_Miss Granger,_

_I request your presence in my office after breakfast._

_There is a matter we need to discuss._

_The password is 'Pepper Imps'._

_Sincerely, Headmaster Dumbledore_

Her brow furrowed in confusion, Hermione looked up at the head table and met Dumbledore's twinkling gaze. He gave her a smile before striking up a conversation with Professor Flitwick. "What's the matter?" Ron asked around a mouthful of toast.

"Nothing," Hermione mumbled, folding the letter and stuffing it into the pocket of her robe.


	7. Interference

Disclaimer: I obviously don't own anything Harry Potter related, and I'm not making any money off the writing of this. It's all for my own perverted amusement! :)

Told you it was a double-posting today! I now present you with Chapter 7, and the plot bunnies would like me to relay their demands for further sacrifice of carrots and lettuce. Or reviews. They would certainly take reviews...

Thank you to my two amazing betas, Lorcalon, and VIVAvivacious - You both are amazing!

* * *

"You wanted to see me, Headmaster?"

"Ah, yes, Miss Granger. Come in, come in." Dumbledore smiled and waved her in from his desk. Hermione strode towards the empty chair he gestured to, glancing quickly at the man occupying the seat beside it.

"Good morning, Professor." Snape offered no answer and continued to glare unblinkingly at Dumbledore.

"Tea?" When she shook her head, Dumbledore poured a cup for himself and set the pot aside. "I'm sure you're wondering what I wished to discuss with you, Miss Granger. It has come to my attention you are demonstrating skills above and beyond what we usually look for in Potions. As I'm sure you're aware, Professor Snape has been keeping our infirmary well-supplied during his years of service here. He is certainly capable of brewing all our necessities on his own, but I believe he would benefit greatly from an assistant." Hermione glanced out of the side of her eye and saw that Snape's expression hadn't changed.

"I...I'm not sure-"

"I can assure you," Dumbledore interrupted, holding up his hand to stop her, "Professor Snape would appreciate your help. Would Saturday's be an acceptable day for you to spend in the labs with him?"

"I suppose, if-" He interrupted her again, rising with a smile to lead her towards the door to his office.

"Excellent! It's all arranged then! Now, Miss Granger, I believe you best run along, lest you be late for class." The door closed behind her before she was able to speak, and a frown tugged at her lips. It was obvious Snape didn't seem happy with this idea, and as she slowly made her way towards the Charms classroom, Hermione felt an unexplained wave of sadness at that knowledge.

/-/SSHG/-/

"Albus..."

Throughout the short exchange, Snape had kept his mouth shut and contented himself with glaring at the headmaster. But with the young witch gone, he felt safe to speak his mind for the second time that morning. "You realize this is ridiculous."

"I disagree. She didn't appear to be opposed."

"You didn't even give her a chance to say no!" Severus gripped the arms of his chair until his knuckles grew white, his teeth bared in a snarl as he spoke. "I came to you for advice, Albus, not interference."

The older wizard sighed, returning to his seat behind his desk. "Severus, while this interest you appear to share with Miss Granger may not be my cup of tea, that is not for me to concern myself with. The happiness of two of my students, however, is very much my business. If I can facilitate a connection between the two of you, then I will be content with that."

Severus' expression softened somewhat, though his anger was still apparent. "I haven't been your student in many years, Albus. Your intentions may be good, but that does not mean the outcome of your actions will be such." His voice sounded weary, edging on pained as he finished.

"Severus, I-"

"No," he said, standing. All traces of anger were gone from his face, replaced by a deceptively calm mask. "What is done is done. She will brew with me on Saturday and decide _for herself_ if she wishes to continue to do so. If something is to come of this, it will be by her own volition, not from the influence of either of us. Now if you'll excuse me, _Headmaster_, I have classes to prepare for." Without waiting for an response, Snape turned and strode quickly from the office.

/-/SSHG/-/

Wednesday was the only day of the week Hermione didn't have Potions on her schedule. As she sat down at the Gryffindor table for supper, she considered herself lucky. The younger students had been talking in the common room before she came down about how much more horrid than usual Snape had been that day. Most of the day, she tried to tell herself that his anger had nothing to do with her, but she was unable to make herself believe it. A single owl entered the Great Hall about half way through her meal, landing neatly in front of her plate. The large, soot-colored creature stuck out its leg, seeming to glare at her as she quickly untied the attached missive. It took off again in a huff of black feathers that reminded her strangely of Professor Snape.

"What is it?" Harry asked, leaning over the table to see, although Hermione had yet to unfold the small piece of parchment. Before she was able to, Ron reached across and snatched it from her hands and opened it, his eyes widening.

"It's a miracle, 'Mione!" he exclaimed as she angrily yanked the parchment from his hands, reading it quickly. She frowned as she stuffed the note into her pocket and jabbed her fork into her baked potato. "Snape let her off the hook on her detentions," Ron explained when Harry gave him a confused look.

"So why are you upset? You can't have been looking forward to it."

"No, I was not 'looking forward to it'," she snapped, pushing her plate away and standing. "I just realized I have homework to do." Neither questioned her response as she walked off, but she doubted that they believed it. She had yet to tell them about her conversation with Professor Dumbledore, and considering their behavior over her note, she decided she wasn't going to. Pausing in the deserted hall, she frowned.

Snape was making it obvious that he didn't care for her- not that he ever had. If he detested being around her enough to cancel her detentions simply because he would have to put up with her on Saturday as well, perhaps working with him wouldn't be a good idea at all. Rather than heading up to the Gryffindor Tower, she took off towards the dungeons with an uncharacteristic scowl on her face. While she had no idea why, she was infuriated by his behavior. She'd be damned if she was going to spend her Saturday's with someone so blatantly repulsed by her presence.

When she arrived at the Potion's classroom, she didn't bother to knock before entering; he hadn't been at dinner, so she was nearly certain he would be here. Pushing the door open, she saw the dark owl that had delivered the note perched on the back of Snape's chair, plucking a treat from the professor's hand. He looked up at her as she strode briskly across the classroom, quickly masking his confusion with his usual indifference. The owl, however, took off in her direction.

"Bryna!" Snape snapped, stopping the owl short and causing her to swoop back towards his chair. She ruffled her feathers in annoyance as she settled again on the back of his chair, giving him a chirp of disapproval. "To what do I owe the _pleasure_ of your visit, Miss Granger? Surely you aren't incapable of comprehending the note I sent releasing you from your remaining detentions for the week." Hermione's ire rose as Snape smirked at her, and she forgot herself in a fresh wave of anger.

"I can assure you, I have no delusions about your note, or your reason for writing it," she hissed, stepping close to his desk and placing her hands on the edge to glare at him. "Clearly my _assistance_ with your brewing is not as appreciated or wanted as Professor Dumbledore had insisted, and you have no desire to subject yourself to my presence any more than necessary, _Professor_." She saw a flash of emotion in Snape's eyes as he stood, but she was unable to decipher it before he glared darkly down his nose, looming over her.

"Do not forget who you are speaking to, Miss Granger." His voice was low and dangerously calm, washing over her and sending a tremor along her spine. "I would suggest you not assume you know my motivations before speaking, lest you make as a great a fool of yourself in the future as you have now done. My reasons are my own and _are not_ something I must explain to you."

Hermione looked up at her teacher, her anger forgotten as she tried to comprehend what he had said. He hadn't offered an alternate explanation for his actions, but suggested that her assumption was wrong. Looking down to her feet, she fought back the tremor in her voice as she spoke.

"Forgive me, sir, I was out of line..." There was no intake of breath as there had been in the past, but she could sense the stiffening of his posture and his appraising eyes on her as her words sank in.

"Indeed." He sounded almost approving for a moment, but Hermione was convinced she had misinterpreted his tone as he continued. "Your apology is sufficient, though I would recommend watching your attitude from now on, Miss Granger. Now if you will excuse me, I have business to attend to." He waved his hand dismissively, and Hermione nodded slightly as she turned to leave, keeping her head down in embarrassment.

/-/SSHG/-/

When she reached the common room, she was relieved to see neither Harry nor Ron had made it back from supper yet. Knowing they would want to ask what was wrong with her if they found her, she quickly retreated to her room. After the latest incident with Snape, she was in no mood for one of their inquisitions.

Plopping down on the edge of her bed, she sighed. She was as confused by her own actions this evening as she was by Snape's. There was no reason for her to feel angry about what he had done, and yet it was the first emotion she had felt. As if that hadn't been enough, she had truly felt in the wrong after his reprimand, as though there was no reason to suspect he was attempting to minimize their contact. Groaning, she stood to pace the room, frustrated by the riddle that her emotions had become.

After several minutes, she aimed a kick at her desk in an attempt to relieve a touch of her anger. The sound of a book landing against the floor with a heavy thud caught her attention, and she bent to pick it up. Without glancing at the title, she recognized the book as the one she had been reading the previous night. Flipping quickly to the page she had left off on, she sat at her desk with a sigh. Damn the 'few days' break she had promised herself. She needed a distraction, and the idea of immersing herself once again in this book was strangely comforting.


	8. Beginning to Accept

Disclaimer: I obviously don't own anything Harry Potter related, and I'm not making any money off the writing of this. It's all for my own perverted amusement! :)

Just so everyone knows that it really is coming, the relationship between Hermione and Severus really is going to come together, I swear! I actually just finished writing the chapter when things finally come together (Chapter 11), and it's going to be in beta very soon. Thought I'd let you know so you have something to look forward to, lol. Now I'd like to thank you all for your lovely tributes of carrots and lettuce and other yummy veggies that have kept the plot bunnies running with this at a full sprint. Please keep the wonderful reviews coming!

Thank you to my two amazing betas, Lorcalon, and VIVAvivacious - You both are amazing!

* * *

Hermione awoke on Thursday morning from a dreamless sleep and prepared for her day sluggishly. She was not looking forward to breakfast because she knew the boys would be waiting to question her about her emotional state; for a moment, she considered playing sick again. Shaking her head, she shouldered her bag with a sigh. They already suspected something was wrong. If she claimed to be ill today, they would know for certain. When she arrived in the Great Hall, she was relieved to find it nearly deserted. It was still early, and most of the other students wouldn't be down for another fifteen minutes or so. Spying Harry and Ron at the Gryffindor table, looking at her expectantly, she cursed under her breath.

"You two are awake early," she greeted, managing to sound cheerful. The two boys continued to watch her uncertainly as she placed a bit of food on her plate. Looking up to see them continuing to stare at her, she rolled her eyes. "Yes?"

"Are you alright?" Harry asked, concerned.

"I'm fine. Why do you ask?" Ron already seemed satisfied and turned his attention to his breakfast, shoveling a large forkful of eggs into his mouth. Harry leaned closer to her across the table.

"You've just seemed off is all...You'll talk to me if there's something wrong, yeah?"

She felt a twinge of guilt as she nodded, flashing him a convincing smile. "Of course I will, Harry." Sitting back, he returned the smile before digging in to his own breakfast. Hermione knew the two boys genuinely cared for her, so a part of her felt guilty for lying to them. But the logical part of her mind pointed out that they wouldn't understand her problem, especially since she hardly did herself.

/-/SSHG/-/

Her day went by slowly. More than once, she found herself glaring down at her watch as though it was responsible for making each of her classes seem to drag. The last class she had that day was a double Potions. As she trudged down towards the dungeons, her thoughts wandered back to the question the previous day's encounter had left on her mind. Snape had all but said that she was mistaken in his opinions of her. She was too preoccupied wondering why to notice the other students happily passing her on their way out of the dungeons until she walked directly into Luna Lovegood.

"Hermione," the younger witch trilled in her soft voice, cocking her head to the side slightly. "You seem distracted. You haven't encountered a milgifizzle, have you? They're known for sidetracking thoughts..." Luna trailed off with a distant look in her eyes that Hermione recognized, bringing a smile to her lips.

"I don't believe I have, Luna, but I'll be sure to keep my eye out for one, just in case." Speaking brought the other girl's attention back to the present, blinking a few times as if adjusting to a bright light. Hermione's brow furrowed slightly as she remembered Luna was in her Potion's class. "Why aren't you going to class?"

"Haven't you heard? Professor Snape isn't in today. Dumbledore has been turning us all away at the door...Perhaps a fillygig has jinxed him," she added, more to herself than to Hermione. "Are you going to Hogsmeade this weekend?"

Taken aback by the sudden change of topic, Hermione took a moment to respond. The date had slipped her mind entirely. "Um, no, I have something I have to take care of here on Saturday."

"It's a shame," Luna murmured, smiling kindly as usual. "I hope your something goes well, but I really must be going. I think I saw a milgifizzle lurking about, and I have a bit of homework to finish yet. Do keep your eye out." Hermione watched her friend bound away with a spring in her step, feeling a small flash of envy at her carefree personality. Sighing, she made her way up towards the Gryffindor Tower, intending to use her newfound time to get ahead in her schoolwork again. It didn't register until she was climbing through the portrait hole that Snape hadn't been at breakfast either. '_Now if you will excuse me, I have business to attend to._' His words from the previous evening repeated in her mind and she came to a stop in the middle of the common room.

He hadn't canceled her detentions because he was avoiding having to deal with her more. She had been at least partially wrong; she didn't feel confident saying her original assumption was completely incorrect just yet. Still, she had to accept the obvious explanation in front of her. Snape wasn't showing his disdain for her, he simply had more pressing matters than her detention to deal with. Hermione's shoulders slumped as she continued up to her room, the self-loathing that accompanied feeling like a silly chit welling in her stomach.

/-/SSHG/-/

Hermione plopped down at one of the small tables in a corner of the common room, ignoring the loud chattering of a few sixth-year girls by the fireplace. There wasn't much new work in her bag to worry about, but it was better to get it over with now, while she had the time. Harry and Ron had Quidditch practice after their last class, and she would most likely have to help them get their work finished after dinner. Opening her bag, she removed her Transfiguration text, along with the roll of parchment she had already started, then quickly reread the first half of her essay. Laying it out on the tabletop, she fetched a quill and some ink with her right hand as her left flipped through her book to find the proper section.

She finished her work with an hour left before dinner, setting her quill aside as she rubbed her eyes. Ron and Harry were still at practice, and most likely wouldn't come by the common room before heading to the Great Hall. Leaning back in her chair, Hermione looked around for the first time since she'd entered three hours before. It was more crowded now, and noiser than she had realized, distracted as she had been by the pleasant scratching of her quill against the parchment. Her mind wandered back to the books stashed away in her room, specificially the one she had nearly finished the previous evening.

"May as well," she muttered to herself, quickly stuffing her things back into her bag. Shouldering the strap, Hermione darted up the stairs to her room, mentally reviewing what she had already read of the book. Last night, she had begun resigning herself to the possibility that she had some submissive desires. The more she read of the different kinds of submissives and the traits and desires that seemed to be the norm for each, the more she began to relate. But the knowledge disturbed her as much as it relieved her. Nothing she had read was the kind of thing she heard the other girls gossiping about doing with their boyfriends. In fact, it seemed quite the opposite. As she began flipping through _The Path of Submission_ to the place she had left off, she forced those worries aside. She could worry about what it meant for her later; at the moment, learning more about this new world- she was slowly discovering that it was indeed like another world, with subcultures, rules, and etiquette that were unique to its dynamic- was the only thing that mattered.

At the beginning of the last chapter, Hermione stopped to check the time and frowned. There were only five minutes left until dinner, and she wouldn't be able to get out of helping the boys with their homework afterward. Glancing again at the page in front of her, she pulled her lower lip between her teeth as she debated what to do. Missing dinner was out of the question, and as much as she hated still having to help Harry and Ron with homework, it had become a part of their routine over the years. As she rose with a sad sigh, realizing she'd have to hold off on reading the last bit until tomorrow, her eye caught sight of her Potions book that had fallen out of her bag when she tossed it aside. The cover had slid down slightly, revealing the plain hardbacking beneath, and her eyes widened.

It was so simple. Both books were the same size, hardbacked, and nearly the same thickness. She could shrink the cover slightly to fit, if necessary. But best of all, no one would think to look over her shoulder to see what she was reading. There would be no awkward questions or explaining to do. It was perfect. With a happy glint in her eyes, Hermione quickly pulled the cover from _The Path of Submission_, replacing it with the one from her Potions book. Her lips pulled apart in a grin as she hugged the book to her chest, bounding down to the common room and out the portrait hole. Helping with Harry and Ron's work wouldn't be so bad now that she could still read as she did.

/-/SSHG/-/

Her little trick had worked perfectly, and Hermione managed to finish the book between proofing Ron's Charms essay and checking Harry's Transfiguration work. Neither had found anything out of the ordinary, and she happily set the book aside on her bookshelf before crawling into her bed. While she wasn't entirely comfortable with the realization that she was attracted to submission, finishing the book had made her determined to look through one of the workbooks from the stack on her desk. "Tomorrow," she murmured to herself, smiling as she snuggled her face against the cool surface of her pillow and tugged her blanket to her chin. "I'll start one tomorrow.."

As soon as her eyes closed, she found herself kneeling in the doorway of the room from her dreams on Tuesday. Only a few of the shadows had receded, revealing a few whips and paddles on one wall, and she now noticed a pair of restraints on the bench in the center. She stared for several moments, not moving from her position as she wondered what to do. Finally, the low voice of the man who had been present the first time was in her ear, sending a shiver down her spine as his warm breath washed over her. "Make a decision, pet. Enter the room, or turn around."

She swallowed the nervous lump that rose in her throat, feeling uncertain as she looked at the few contents she was able to see. Moving into the room was intimidating and terrifying, as she had no idea what it would mean. What would happen inside was as much of a mystery as the man asking her what she would choose to do, but it also seemed to be the only option. The more she turned the thought over in her mind, the less appealing turning away from this room became. The warmth of the fireplace was distant, but traces of the heat could still be felt against the flesh of her feet and back. From the little she had seen, that room had been inviting and comfortable. There were no strange items on the walls and no shadows concealing other things from view.

Hesitantly, Hermione lowered herself onto her hands and crawled a few inches into the room before expelling the breath she hadn't realized she was holding. Nothing happened to harm her, and she felt a strange sense of peace, though her nervousness was still present. She heard a low chuckle behind her, followed by a few heavy footsteps. A hand smoothed over her hair then, before taking hold of a fistful at the base of her head. "You do know what this means, don't you?" The words were as much a promise as a warning, and her eyes snapped open with a gasp.


	9. Assistance

**Disclaimer:** I obviously don't own anything Harry Potter related, and I'm not making any money off the writing of this. It's all for my own perverted amusement! :)

Next chapter is here, and just waiting to get the next three out of beta so that I can upload them! :-D Things are coming together, which is great. And the plot bunnies have been on a full sprint with this. Two chapters away from the big 'beginning', and then things will pick up more.

Thank you to my two amazing betas, Lorcalon, and VIVAvivacious - You both are amazing!

* * *

Friday passed by slowly, which Hermione was more than happy to blame on her lack of sleep. When her eyes had opened, as had been the case on Tuesday, she was greeted with the sight of her room in the darkness of night. But unlike Tuesday, she hadn't been able to fall asleep again, and was forced to pass nearly four hours in the early morning staring at the canopy of her bed. She had been quick to blame the first dream on the books, but now she was forced to accept that such was not the case. Over the course of her nineteen years, she had read hundreds of books and, as far as she could remember, had never had dreams influenced by their contents. It wasn't a phenomenon that was likely to start now.

By the time she made her way to breakfast, she was no closer to discovering an explanation than she had been when she first woke. Her classes passed at the same snail-slow pace that her morning had, until Potions at the end of her day. Professor Snape was back, and while no one was likely to say he was in a _good_ mood, he certainly wasn't as cruel or snarky as usual. On her way out, he called her name, and she nervously approached his desk. She hoped he wasn't going to berate her futher for her behavior on Wednesday.

"I hope you do not mind rising early on a Saturday, Miss Granger, as I require your presence in this class room no later than eight o' clock in the morning. Am I understood?" His tone wasn't harsh, but still held all of the command she was used to, and Hermione shivered.

"Of course, sir." She saw the corner of his lip twitch and glanced away from him quickly to prevent the blush that spread in her cheeks from deepening. 'What is wrong with me?'

"Bring something to work on, as well, as I do not wish for any chatter to interrupt my focus should you find yourself with any free time. You're dismissed."

/-/SSHG/-/

Harry and Ron had been disappointed when they found out she wouldn't be going to Hogsmeade with them. Ron especially, though Hermione didn't understand why. He sulked through most of the evening while she helped them with their homework, and by the time they were finished, she felt uncomfortable enough to make a swift retreat to her room for the night. When she slipped down to breakfast on Saturday morning, rubbing her eyes throughout her meal, she was happy to see neither of her two best friends were present. The Gryffindor table was mostly empty, which worked in her favor when Snape's Greater Sooty owl swooped towards her a few minutes later.

The short note he had written told her that he would need her in the lab to prepare ingredients for their first potion as soon as she was finished with breakfast, and that he would be several minutes late. Sighing, she tucked the parchment into her pocket and pushed her plate aside. She was mostly finished anyway, and the way that the bird hovered to glare at her gave Hermione the impression that she should leave now. Shouldering her bag, she quickly made her way out of the Great Hall towards the dungeons.

/-/SSHG/-/

The 'several minutes' Snape had warned her about turned into an hour as Hermione carefully prepared all of the ingredients necessary for the first potion written on the board of the classroom. When she had seen no cauldrons on the lab tables, she assumed they would likely be doing the brewing in his private lab, wherever that might be. Each of the other potions on his list required time-sensitive preparations, so there was no more she could do. Opening her bag, she removed the thin workbook with 'Arithmancy' scrawled across the cover. She had had a hard time adjusting the cover to fit the copy of _Where I Am Led_ properly, but she was confident that Snape wouldn't find anything out of the ordinary if he noticed her flipping through it.

She had just begun reading the first exercise when she heard the classroom door open and Snape entered in his usual swirl of black robes. "I see you followed my instructions, Miss Granger." Neither his voice nor his face held the condescension she expected, and it flustered her slightly. The corner of his lips twitched as if he was suppressing a smile, and he waved his wand to levitate the small bowls of ingredients Hermione had prepared. "This way, please."

He led her toward the door to his private office without another glance, and she scrambled from her seat to follow. She caught a brief glimpse of his private rooms through an open door in his office before being ushered through another door leading to his lab. Looking around, she gasped with a mixture of surprise and envy. It was a large, stone room, lit with candles free of scent and smoke. The walls were lined with shelves, containing brightly colored potions in bottles and vials of ingredients. Six lab tables were spread throughout, each supporting a large pewter cauldron for brewing larger quantities of potions. In one corner was a collection of cauldrons crafted in different sizes with a variety of other materials.

"Set your things on the floor and restraint your hair. I have no desire to see several hours' work go to waste due to a rogue curl." Out of the corner of her eye, Hermione saw Snape had bound his own hair at the base of his neck. To her surprise, she felt a blush rising in her cheeks and quickly rummaged in her bag for a hairband. It didn't occur to her until she was wrapping the thin elastic tie around her hair that Snape had passed up the opportunity to fire an insult at her. Glancing at him again, she met his black eyes and looked away quickly, only to hear a soft noise from his direction. Whether it was a grunt or a chuckle, she wasn't sure.

"For the time being, Miss Granger, you will only be using the cauldron in front of you," Snape said, pulling her attention back to him as he sent a share of the ingredients she prepared towards her table. "I'm accustomed to working alone on multiple potions at a time. Until I am satisfied you're capable of handling such a task without ruining one of them, you will focus on one, and only one."

Hermione bristled at his words, feeling insulted that he was questioning her capabilities. Her voice held all the venom of her wounded pride as she hissed, "Of course, sir."

Snape only nodded, moving to the other tables and beginning to light fires beneath their cauldrons. "Then you may begin." Setting her jaw against her annoyance, Hermione focused on the instructions he had left on the table for her before she had entered. She remembered discussing the Blood-Replenishing Potion in class, but they hadn't been allowed to brew it, as Snape felt that it would be a waste of valuable ingredients. Still, she noticed that a few of his instructions were slightly different than those of the book and frowned.

He was standing at one of the cauldrons behind her, and she could hear the rhythmic thud of a knife as he chopped something. 'Should I ask him?' she wondered, worrying her lower lip nervously. She had just opened her mouth to get his attention when two thoughts struck her at once. The first was the reminder that he wasn't simply a teacher giving alternate directions; he was a Master of the subject- a title not easily won- and a man with twenty years' more experience than her. Second was the memory of Harry in sixth year, who had followed the changes Snape had scrawled in the margins of his old school text, and produced flawless work that outshone any of hers.

Snapping her mouth shut, Hermione pushed her questions aside and began on the potion, following Snape's revised instructions carefully. After two hours, she was able to take the cauldron off the flame and let it cool, giving her a chance to relax for the first time since they began. Snape was currently bent over one of the cauldrons in front of her, intently watching it as he slowly stirred its contents. His profile was strangely striking, and her mind wandered back to the realization she'd had a few days before. Even in silence, absorbed as he was in his work, he was every bit as commanding as in the classroom.

Her eyes were drawn to his slender fingers where they wrapped around his stirring rod, and a trecherous part of her mind wondered what they would feel like gripping her hair. Gasping softly, she quickly tore her eyes away from him. The potion had cooled, and she busied herself bottling the blood-colored liquid. She felt the blush in her cheeks, and hoped that Snape hadn't turned to wonder at her sudden noise.

"What the bloody hell is wrong with me?"

Hermione murmured aloud without realizing it. She was pulled out of her confused musings by the same long, pale fingers she had stared at a moment before wrapping around her wrist.

"I cannot speak for what is wrong with _you_, Miss Granger, but I can tell you exactly what is wrong with what you're about to do." She froze when he stopped her hand, tensing in a mixture of surprise and embarrassment. As she glanced down, she realized why he had stopped her. The bottle she had been filling was about to overflow, and certainly would have if she'd poured the ladle's-worth of potion she was holding.

Her voice trembled slightly as she spoke, and she hoped to Merlin that he wouldn't notice. "I'm sorry, sir..." Relaxing her grip on the ladle, she closed her eyes and took a calming breath, barely managing to suppress the tremor that rippled along her spine. Snape released her wrist then, taking up the task of bottling the potion himself.

"Perhaps you should take a break before attempting the next potion. You did bring something else to work on, did you not?"

Swallowing the lump in her throat, Hermione nodded dumbly, keeping her eyes on the table, lest they give away why she had made her mistake.


	10. Confrontation

**Disclaimer:** I obviously don't own anything Harry Potter related, and I'm not making any money off the writing of this. It's all for my own perverted amusement! :)

Because I'm working on getting this caught up to what has already gone through the betas, I'm posting THREE WHOLE CHAPTERS tonight! :-) That is also my apology for the lengthy build up in the plot. Hope you enjoy them!

Thank you to my two amazing betas, Lorcalon, and VIVAvivacious - You both are amazing!

* * *

Hermione was quickly absorbed in the workbook she brought, reading through each of the exercises slowly. She wanted to get an idea of what she was subjecting herself to before she started attempting to answer any of the questions. Snape was busy checking the five cauldrons around the room that were still on the flames, stirring one, or adding ingredients to another. Occasionally, she would be forced to suppress a shiver as his boots thudded heavily against the stone flooring, reminding her of the footsteps of the man in her dream.

"Perhaps it would be prudent of you to focus on the potions once again, Miss Granger," Snape said softly after an hour, just as Hermione was about to begin scratching a response to the first exercise on the provided space of her workbook. Looking up at him with a startled expression, she nodded silently and slid the book and her quill back into her bag.

"Am I brewing another Blood-Replenishing Potion, sir?"

"Your previous batch will be sufficient. I would like you to brew a wound-cleaning potion next." Snape placed a new parchment of instructions on her table as he circled to one of the cauldrons in front of her. Hermione glanced over the ingredients list before moving to the small store cupboard at the back of the room to gather them. She prepped the base ingredients over the next thirty minutes before officially starting to brew, spending the next hour and a half bent over her cauldron and watching the potion turn from a pale blue to the desired shade of purple. As before, while she allowed it to cool, Hermione glanced over at Snape and noticed that he was watching her.

Feeling a blush creep into her cheeks again, she quickly looked away to check the temperature of her potion, only to find it still too warm to bottle. She shifted uncomfortably, feeling Snape's dark eyes still on her. After another moment, she heard the swish of his robes as he moved, and relaxed a bit. When he suddenly appeared at her side, peering over her shoulder at the contents of her cauldron, though, she stiffened nervously once again.

"Excellent work, Miss Granger." Startled by the compliment, Hermione looked up at him with wide eyes. The corner of his mouth twitched as if he was holding back a smile at her surprised expression. "I believe it has cooled enough for you to finish," he said, turning away towards one of the other cauldrons at the back of the room.

Shaking her head slightly, Hermione returned her attention to the cauldron on her table, checking the temperature again before taking up her ladle to begin bottling the potion. It took fifteen minutes to finish, and she carefully added the labeled bottles to the box Snape had provided. She had just placed the last inside when he gained her attention again.

"Miss Granger, come here for a moment." He made a 'come-hither' motion with two, long fingers, and she felt the increasingly familiar stirring in her nerves. She walked to the front-most table and stepped beside him to peer curiously into his cauldron. She noticed him glance at her briefly, a strange expression in his eyes, but he was quick to mask it. "What is the next step in producing the Draught of Peace?"

Hermione looked at the dark grey potion in front of her, wondering why Snape was testing her knowledge. "How long has the flame been lowered?" she murmured softly, pulling back from the cauldron.

"Two minutes." His lips twitched again, and Hermione thought back to the instructions from her fifth year.

"Add the syrup of hellebore in five minutes."

"Correct," Snape nodded. Hermione relaxed, smiling slightly to herself. Leaving the potion to continue simmering, Snape stepped around her and gestured her towards the next. "Invigoration Draught. What is next?" Peering into the cauldron at the dark liquid within, Hermione bit her lower lip as she struggled to remember. After a few moments, she pulled back, her voice confident.

"Three clockwise stirs, and one counter-clockwise."

"Correct again," Snape replied. She felt a swell of pride in herself then, and met his eyes. "Please take over this potion to its completion, Miss Granger, as well as the Draught of Peace."

A small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth as she realized why he had questioned her, and Hermione nodded slightly. "Thank you, sir."

Snape returned to the cauldrons at the back of the room, leaving her to finish the two potions at the front. After a moment, she added the hellebore to the Draught of Peace, smiling happily as it emitted a light, silvery vapour. Removing the cauldron from the flames to cool, she stepped over to the other to stir.

Within an hour, she had completed the second potion, bottling both and adding them to the collection of boxes at the front of the room. "Professor?" she asked, turning toward the back of the room to see Snape ladling the contents of another cauldron into vials. He didn't seem to have heard her, and she noticed an empty box sitting on the second back lab table, beside a collection of stoppered bottles. Without waiting for him to ask, she made her way to the table and began carefully moving each bottle into the box as she had already done several times that day with her own.

She looked up as she closed the box and saw Snape watching her from the front of the room where he had just placed his own packed box. His dark eyes seemed darker as he considered her, and another soft blush tinted her cheeks as she carried the packaged potions towards him.

As she set it beside the other boxes, he broke the somewhat awkward silence. "As it is nearly two in the afternoon, I would suggest a break." Hermione shyly nodded her agreement, and Snape led the way out of the lab and into his private office. "If you would prefer to venture to the Great Hall for lunch, please be sure to return within the hour."

The small voice in the back of her mind suggested a break from his presence would be a good idea, but Hermione shook her head slightly, ignoring it. "I would rather remain here, if that is all right with you, Professor. It would allow us to return to brewing more quickly than if I were to leave." She refused to meet his eyes as she spoke, knowing it would be all too easy for him to slip into her mind then and see that she was becoming comfortable around him. From the corner of her eye, she saw him nod slightly before calling for a house elf.

/-/SSHG/-/

The two of them passed a quick lunch in silence before returning to the lab. Throughout the next five hours, Snape occasionally pulled her from her own potion to test her knowledge of another. When her answers were correct, he allowed her to complete the brew. She was only incorrect twice, and he was quick to remind her of the proper answer before shooing her back to her own cauldron. At half past seven, Snape cast a stasis charm over each potion and asked her to follow him back to his office. Sitting behind his desk, he watched her shift nervously for a moment before speaking.

"As I'm sure you have gathered, Miss Granger, this arrangement was not my idea." Her mood visibly dropped, and she nodded. She had begun thinking he wasn't entirely put off by her presence, but his words dashed that small hope. "However," he continued, drawing her attention away from her thoughts and back to him, "your assistance has proved helpful. Therefore, the decision to end or continue this is yours." Hermione looked at him for a moment in surprise, turning her options over in her mind. He waited patiently for her to answer, holding himself stiffly in his chair.

"I...I suppose I'd like to continue, sir." The answer surprised her, but she knew that it was true, Merlin only knew why. Snape seemed to expell a breath and relax at her reply, then nodded slightly.

"Very well. I expect you at the same time next Saturday, then." He rose from his seat and turned back towards the door to the lab, casting a final look in her direction. Hermione shifted again under the intensity of his gaze as he looked her over, appraisingly. "You are dismissed for the evening, Miss Granger."

/-/SSHG/-/

Hermione made her way out of the dungeons, absorbed in her thoughts. Snape hadn't spent the day glaring and making snide comments as she had half-expected him to do. He hadn't gone out of his way to be _kind_, but he certainly had been more relaxed than she had ever seen him. As she made it to the first floor, the sound of a female voice hissing _Muffliato_ caught her attention, and she looked up to see Ginny Weasley glaring at her.

"Hey, Gin-"

"Don't you _dare_ 'hey' me, Hermione Granger!" the redhead snarled, stepping closer with a vicious gleam in her eyes. "You really think I'm going to be friendly after what you've been doing to my brother?"

Hermione's brow furrowed in confusion as she stepped back, only for her back to meet the wall. "What are you talking about?"

"_Don't you play stupid with me!_" she screeched. "I saw you sneaking into the common room the other day, running up to your room like Ron hadn't been waiting up for you! At first, I didn't think it was a big deal. But then," she continued, eyes narrowing as she stalked closer, "then, you refused to help him with his homework and ran off, not coming back until well after curfew."

"Ginny, I-"

"_And then_, you skipped class on Tuesday. Don't even try to lie, I checked your room between classes, and you weren't there. Still, I thought it must be something else. You wouldn't be caught dead running around with someone like that."

Her voice grew dangerously quiet as she stepped directly in front of Hermione. "Until Ron mentioned the rest of your strange behavior. Mysterious notes. Distracted. Running off suddenly. And now missing the Hogsmeade weekend. I saw you at breakfast this morning, and I saw you going to the dungeons afterward." Ginny placed her wand beneath Hermione's chin then. "You've been down there _all day_."

"Drop your wand, Ginny."

"The bloody hell I will! I'll be damned if I'm going to let you string my brother along while you snog some Slytherin!"

Hermione's eyes narrowed now as she began reaching for her own wand. "I'm not seeing anyone, Ginny, and that includes your brother."

"Liar! You're leading him on while you run around behind his back. Why else would you stay down in the dungeons all day?" Ginny pressed the tip of her wand harder against Hermione's chin as she spoke, her voice icy. "Give me one good reason not to hex you right now."

"Miss Weasley."

Hermione's eyes flicked instantly to Snape, where he stood aiming his wand at Ginny's back. She noticed a small crowd had formed and realized that the _Muffliato_ had been canceled. She briefly wondered how much the other students- and Snape- had heard.

"Miss Weasley, lower your wand this instant!" Professor McGonagall reprimanded, and Hermione noticed she stood a little to the left of Snape. Ginny mechanically lowered her arm, holding it stiffly to her side as she continued to glare at Hermione. "Both of you in my office, immediately," McGonagall snapped, striding briskly away. Ginny rigidly fell in line behind her, while Snape fell in step at Hermione's side, though she wasn't sure why he followed as well.


	11. Changing the Dynamic

**Disclaimer:** I obviously don't own anything Harry Potter related, and I'm not making any money off the writing of this. It's all for my own perverted amusement! :)

Thank you to my two amazing betas, Lorcalon, and VIVAvivacious - You both are amazing!

* * *

"I want an explanation for this outrageous behavior!" McGonagall demanded, leaning over her desk and looking at the two girls. She had confiscated Ginny's wand before allowing her into the office, but allowed Hermione to keep hers as it had not been drawn. Hermione chanced a glance at Ginny from the corner of her eye, only to see the younger girl staring straight ahead, anger still etched on her face. "Miss Weasley, I am speaking to you."

"I was correcting a wrong, Professor." Ginny's voice was cold, and she shot a harsh glare at Hermione. McGonagall sputtered for a moment before turning to Hermione.

"Miss Granger?" Hermione felt the various stares on her as she looked at the floor, though Snape's from the back of the room wore on her the most. She still was unable to understand why he was here. Letting out a sigh, she looked up to meet her Head of House's gaze.

"Ginny is under the impression that I have been leading her brother on romantically," she stated calmly. McGonagall sat behind her desk and pinched the bridge of her nose with a heavy sigh.

"Miss Weasley, you attacked Miss Granger over this?" Ginny nodded stiffly, her lips pursed into a thin line. "Well, I'm sure this was simply a misunderstanding, but you will st-" "If I might, Minerva?" Snape moved from his place near the door to stand directly between Hermione and Ginny where they were before McGonagall's desk. "Miss Weasley's actions went beyond a mere mis-communication."

"What do you mean, Severus?" McGonagall cast suspicious glances at both girls before returning to Snape.

"Miss Granger explained that she is not involved with Mr. Weasley- or anyone, for that matter- _prior_ to Miss Weasley threatening to hex her."

McGonagall turned towards Ginny and frowned. "Is this true?"

"Yes, but-" Ginny ground out, only to be interrupted by McGonagall continuing.

"You were going to attack a fellow student after being told you were-"

"She's lying!" Ginny shouted. A stunned silence fell for a moment before she continued in a calmer voice. "She spent the entire day in the dungeons. She must-"

"Miss Granger was brewing potions with Professor Snape for the Infirmary since seven thirty this morning," McGonagall said flatly. Ginny's eyes widened, all anger wiped from her face in favor of her surprise. She looked dumbly from Snape's blank expression to that of Hermione, gaping at the two of them.

"We... _I_... had no idea," she muttered, looking down at her feet.

McGonagall let out another sigh and looked to Hermione again. "Miss Granger, would you prefer to simply forgive and forget this incident?"

Hermione kept her expression impassive as she mulled the question over. Ginny had nearly hexed her, and almost certainly would have if they had gone unnoticed any longer. On one hand, it had been because she hadn't shared with her friends what was going on, and a small voice in her mind suggested that she was partially to blame. But the logical part of her couldn't agree. She had told Ginny that she was mistaken, and the girl was still willing to harm her. Even if she had told Harry and Ron what was going on, this confrontation was likely to have come about at one time or another.

"No, Professor, I wouldn't." McGonagall seemed surprised, and Ginny's soft gasp said she felt the same. Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw approval in Snape's gaze, and thrilled at the thought.

"Very well, Miss Granger. You're dismissed."

"'Mione?" Ginny's voice was quiet, and Hermione paused at the door, keeping her back straight in determination. She had considered Ginny as trustworthy a friend as any, but that feeling was gone the second she had refused to listen to her in the hallway.

"There is another syllable at the beginning of my name, _Ginevra_. Please see you use it from now on," she spat, stepping from the room and taking comfort in the loud slam of the door.

/-/SSHG/-/

Rather than heading to the common room, Hermione retreated to the library with her bag slung over her shoulder, intending to find a small, deserted corner near a window. Since it was a Hogsmeade weekend, no one above second year was in the library, and it was easy enough to find the perfect table, right beside the Restricted Section. Pulling her workbook from her bag and ensuring that it was still covered with the cover of her Arithmancy text, she leaned back comfortably in her chair and focused on the first exercise again. By the time she calmed down enough to attempt a response, though, she had read and re-read it several times. Absorbed as she was with the words in front of her, she failed to notice Snape pass by twice, the second time with a Potions book in hand.

Hermione laid the workbook flat on the table in front of her finally, using her self-inking quill to begin scratching an answer onto the provided space of the page. She turned the prompt over slowly in her mind as she wrote, trying and failing to find an appropriate way to word her thoughts. As she scratched off yet another attempt to respond, a pair of talons dug painfully into her shoulder and her head snapped up. Snape's owl was watching her curiously, holding out her leg to allow Hermione to remove the small note attached. 'This is becoming a routine,' she thought to herself, opening the parchment.

_Miss Granger_

_I would recommend using a more effective sticking charm if you wish to disguise your contraband as a school workbook. Unfriendly eyes may take notice your current charm appears to be slipping_.

Pausing, Hermione looked down at her workbook and realized the Arithmancy cover had indeed slipped down an inch or so. She quickly adjusted it before returning to the note as the owl nipped at her hand. Apparently Snape was expecting an answer to this one, for some reason.

_Perhaps your 'Arithmancy' studies would best be restrained to the privacy of your room, Miss Granger? Or, at the very least, a more secluded area than the library, as I doubt any of your fellow students would be receptive to such a subject._

_However, I would be remiss in my duties if I did not offer my assistance should you require it._

_My door is open if you have any questions._

_S.S._

Hermione stared at the last bit with wide eyes, wondering at his meaning. 'Remiss in his duties' as a teacher? Certainly not. But perhaps as a Dominant, he was obligated to offer his help? A frown turned down the corners of her mouth as she thought back to the first book she had read in the Room of Requirement. Nowhere had she seen any mention of such a thing, or anything to suggest that was the case. All of her reading so far had made it clear that there were no obligations between Dominants and submissives that were not entirely voluntary. Which left her with only one other explanation for his offer- Snape _wanted_ to help her.

/-/SSHG/-/

Severus Snape turned another page of his Potions text, refusing to glance at the clock for the tenth time since sending Bryna with his note. Once the owl had swept from the room, he had questioned the decision to make such a bold move so quickly. But he resigned himself to the consequences of his action soon enough, knowing there was no changing it now. Still, Bryna had been gone for more than half an hour, and his impatience was getting the better of him. He had just slammed his book shut, intending to pace the floor to calm his nerves when his owl swooped into the room, dropping a small roll of parchment on his desk on her way to her cage.

For a moment, he stared at the innocent looking reply, unable to reach for it or look away. She had replied, which was more than he had really expected; but how had she responded? Taking a slow, measured breath, he extended his arm to grasp the note gingerly, as if afraid too rough a touch would make it disappear. He unfurled it slowly, forcing himself to remain calm despite his strange nervousness. As his eyes scanned across the lines of her delicate scrawl, though, the corner of his mouth curved up in a genuine smile.

_Thank you for your kind offer, Professor._

_Is 'Professor' the correct address in a situation such as this? Or would 'Sir' be better suited? I'm rather unsure which would be most appropriate._

_There is quite a bit I would like to ask, but my thoughts and feelings on this subject are muddled. Even trying to tackle a simple exercise of my workbook- explaining what attracts me to this world, and why- seems impossible. I do not know how to proceed, to be truthful. Would you happen to have any advice in that regard?_

_H.G._

He could feel the nervous energy of her words, as if she was uncertain of herself as she wrote. Remembering her flustered reactions to him throughout the day, a smirk replaced his previous smile. She wanted his assistance, but had no idea of how to handle her situation. Perhaps another bold move was in order, then. Calling Bryna back to him, Severus quickly scratched out a short response and passed it into the beak of the dark bird. "Please deliver this to Miss Granger's room," he said, stroking her feathers lightly. "If she is there, you may give it to her, but otherwise, I'd like it left somewhere that she will see it."

She bobbed her head in something akin to a nod before taking off, leaving Severus alone in his office. Steepling his fingers in front of him, he looked into the fireplace across from his desk, his smirk still in place. "Let's see how serious you are, Miss Granger."


	12. First Steps

**Disclaimer:** I obviously don't own anything Harry Potter related, and I'm not making any money off the writing of this. It's all for my own perverted amusement! :)

Third chapter of the night, and we're pretty well caught up to what's finished now! So please feed the plot bunnies some reviews, as a well-fed p.b. is a happy and willing to write p.b., lol.

Thank you to my two amazing betas, Lorcalon, and VIVAvivacious - You both are amazing!

* * *

Hermione clutched the note tucked in the pocket of her robe as she made her way to the dungeons on Sunday morning. She had gotten it the previous evening after finally leaving the library, thinking Snape hadn't seen fit to answer her at all. When she opened it, her throat had felt suddenly dry and she read it three more times to be sure she wasn't imagining things. Shifting her bag on her shoulder, she pushed aside her nervousness as she reached Professor Snape's classroom door. She entered, glancing around the room as she pulled the door shut behind her. The classroom was empty, and she slowly made her way across the room towards his private office. Before she could reach it, the door opened, and Snape stood in the doorway with his arms folded over his chest, watching her.

"Come in, Miss Granger." He stepped aside to let her into the office, his eyes following her to the seat he provided for her in front of his desk. She stared intently at the floor as she sat, a blush tinting her cheeks as she waited. Snape closed the door firmly and stalked around his desk to the wall behind Hermione, his boots thudding against the stone flooring. "You're free to leave if you are uncomfortable," he muttered. Stiffening in her chair, she shook her head.

"No, Professor." Her voice was soft as she spoke, and she forced her usual confidence back into it as she continued, "I'd like to stay."

"Place your books on the desk." The command in his voice sent a shiver down her spine as she quickly opened her bag and removed each of the books she had gotten in the Room of Requirement. Stacking them neatly on his desk, Hermione relaxed against the back of her chair as Snape moved behind his desk. He sat and pulled the stack closer, examining each carefully. "Which titles have you read, Miss Granger?"

"_Wizarding BDSM_ and _The Path of Submission_ are all I've gotten to so far." Snape nodded, selecting both books and setting them to one side. He looked over each of the other books, one by one, before placing them in four new piles. Hermione watched as he did so, her brow furrowing as she tried to understand why they were separated the way they were. She had just opened her mouth to ask when she caught his eye again and snapped it shut.

"Before I begin making any suggestions, Miss Granger, I would like to be clear exactly what it is you would like from me."

Hermione stared for a moment, not having expected that question, and glanced away from him as she thought. He was offering to help, but she didn't know how far that offer extended, or how far she wanted it to. She wanted to learn more, certainly. And the more she came to terms with her submissive side, the more she wanted to explore it. But there didn't seem to be a way to do that alone. Biting her lower lip, she struggled with a much more rash option than simply asking Snape for advice.

"If it is a simpler answer, tell me first what you are aiming for in general," he interrupted, allowing her to relax as she focused on that answer.

"I want to learn more about it, and how it plays into who I am," she responded after a moment, feeling confident in admitting her interest aloud. Snape leaned forward slightly, meeting her eyes expectantly.

"And how do I help you in that pursuit, Miss Granger?"

"Train me." The words were out before she realized what she had said, but she couldn't deny that she meant them. He was offering his help, and this was the help she needed. A small voice in the back of her mind suggested it was more than that, but she swiftly ignored it. Focusing her attention on Snape again, she saw he looked surprised by her response and was looking at her carefully.

"Do you realize what you are asking of me?"

She considered his words for a moment before nodding. What little reading she had done was enough to make it clear what training as a submissive meant. Even if the specifics of the exchange varied, she knew what she was asking for.

"Yes, Professor, I do."

"In that case, we have quite a bit more to discuss." Snape leaned back slightly in his chair, his lips curving up in a smirk as he looked her over again. "I truly hope you are prepared for this, Miss Granger. I am not an easy man to please."

/-/SSHG/-/

Snape dismissed her an hour later, and Hermione quickly made her way back to her room in Gryffindor Tower. He had kept the majority of her books after explaining the way he had divided them earlier. Two of the piles were for him to tuck away until she had more knowledge, while the other two were for her to work with now; one was the books Snape was familiar with already, while the second he would need to review. Before sending her off, he returned the two she had already read for review, saying he would return the others as they were needed.

He also gave her an assignment for the afternoon, warning- after she confirmed that she had no homework to finish first- that he would send Bryna for it before dinner. When she reached the Common Room, Harry waved her over from a table in the corner. Ron was sitting across from him, with Ginny between them. The other witch gave her an apologetic smile, but Hermione looked away and continued upstairs as if she hadn't seen any of them. Her anger over their encounter the night before had not faded much, and it provided an excuse to escape to her room.

Warding the door in case any of the other girls tried to come talk to her, she sat behind her desk with a self-inking quill and sheet of parchment. She looked at the blank paper, worrying her lower lip as she thought over the assignment Snape had given her. He wanted at least one roll on what she wanted from training, but it was difficult to sort out her thoughts. Dragging her teeth across her lip, Hermione placed the tip of her quill against the parchment in front of her, deciding to write her thoughts as they came, rather than try to riddle them out first.

True to his word, Snape's owl swooped through her window ten minutes before dinner, landing on one of the books on her desk. The bird looked at Hermione expectantly as she rolled the parchment and held it out for Bryna to grab. Hermione watched her take off out the window, a small smile pulling at her lips. Her nerves had calmed since she first went to Snape's office that morning, and she felt confident that this decision was a good one.

/-/SSHG/-/

Hermione was quiet through most of dinner, too busy wondering when she would receive a reply to her assignment to be worth much conversation. Ron tried several times to turn the conversation to her encounter with Ginny, and why she had refused to simply let it go, but she steadfastly ignored him each time, finally retreating to her room after the fifth attempt. When she spotted a small stack of papers on her bed, she felt a small swell of excitement. Throwing herself across the mattress, she looked over the top note eagerly.

_I believe this will help you to sort your thoughts, Miss Granger, as you seem to be finding it rather difficult to do so._

_Provided is a standard training contract and checklist for you to review over the following week. Once you have studied them, you will use them to outline the areas of training you wish to experience. I expect it by Friday evening for my own review; Bryna will retrieve it before dinner, completed or not._

_We will have further negotiations when you arrive on Saturday._

_S.S  
_

Setting the note aside, Hermione flipped idly through the pages beneath. The checklist alone was nearly five pages long, and the contract was another ten. She looked over both briefly before moving them to her desk with a sigh. It didn't seem to be the most exciting task, but she knew from her reading that it would be a necessary starting point to ensure her training went well. Slipping into the bathroom, she quickly showered and prepared for bed, tugging on a cozy pair of cotton pajamas before taking up the seat at her desk. A small head start before going to bed couldn't hurt, and she had at least an hour before she would be ready for sleep anyway.

/-/SSHG/-/

The setting of her dream was immediately familiar, as it seemed to pick up exactly where her previous had left off. She felt the cold flooring against her bare knees, and realized for the first time that she was naked. Strangely, that didn't bother her as she remained kneeling, feeling the hand of the mystery man who haunted her smoothing over her hair gently. As he had done the last time, his hand grasped a fistful of her hair tightly, and she felt his breath against her ear and nearly purred at the sensation.

"You know what this means, don't you?"

Her tongue darted out to wet her suddenly dry lips, not daring to look up, knowing it would break the dream as it always did. "Y-yes, Sir," she whispered. A small noise of amusement escaped him as he pulled away. He made his way in front of her, and she watched his polished black boots slowly leave her field of vision. She started slightly at the loud snap of his fingers, but only raised her eyes enough to find his shoes again.

"Come." Lowering her hands to the floor in front of her, Hermione crawled slowly towards him, her emotions a mix of anticipation and nerves as she did. As she came up before him, she noticed he was standing beside the low bench she had noticed in the previous dreams, and a shiver rippled slowly along her spine. The man circled around behind her again before speaking, his voice stern, commanding, and frustratingly familiar, though she couldn't place it. "Bend over the bench, pet."

Raising herself up, she laid her bare flesh along the length of the low, leather bench. In an instant, she felt restraints close around her ankles and wrists, holding her in that position as she squirmed uncertainly. A swift swat against her thigh stilled her, and she took a deep breath to calm herself.

"Why are you here?"

The answer was instinctual, and while her voice was still a soft whisper, it was confident. "Because I want this." She felt as much as heard him moving, coming to stand to one side of her, still keeping his face from her view.

"It took you long enough." His response confused her, and she had to suppress the urge to try to look at him. "Though it seems you're still fighting," he continued, beginning to circle her slowly. "Perhaps you need a demonstration of just how much you want this."

She opened her mouth to question him when she felt a pair of long-fingered hands roughly grab the swell of her ass. One hand pulled away, coming down quickly with a smack that made her jump in surprise. For several moments, he alternated spanking each cheek until she was squirming beneath the blows. A deep blush rose in her cheeks as she realized this was arousing her, and the gradual increase of stinging pain only aroused her further. When the spanking stopped, his hand dipped between her legs and Hermione realized- closing her eyes against the humiliation she felt- that she was soaking wet.

Two of his slim fingers slid into her, and she gasped, tensing out of surprise rather than pain. "Relax," his low voice murmured from behind her, somehow soothing and commanding at once. Slowly, she complied and felt him begin pumping his fingers inside her at a teasing pace. Once she began rocking back against his hand, he sped up slightly and the sounds of her moans filled the room. "That's right, pet, you love this, don't you?"

His fingers curved to press against the sensitive bundle of nerves inside her, and Hermione answered with a strangled moan. She had never experienced anything like what he was doing to her, and quickly found herself on the brink of an orgasm. As if he was sensing it as well, the man shifted to lean over her body to place his lips beside her ear. "Scream for me," he murmured, the low tone of his voice pushing her over the edge.

Hermione cried out as she came, her eyes squeezing closed as she did. When she opened them a moment later, she saw only the dark shadows of her room in the early morning gloom.


	13. Training Begins

**Disclaimer:** I obviously don't own anything Harry Potter related, and I'm not making any money off the writing of this. As an added disclaimer while I am playing in this particular sandbox, I would like to add that there are many ways to have a D/s relationship, and this is only portraying one of them.

Thank you, as always, to my two betas, Lorcalon, and VIVAvivacious - You both are amazing!

* * *

For the most part, the week passed quickly for Hermione; the only exception being Friday, as she waited for Bryna to rap against her window to retrieve her assignment. She passed her nights absorbed in nearly identical dreams, always waking immediately after climax feeling sated and somewhat humiliated by their content. After her experience on Sunday, she started casting silencing spells before going to sleep, to ensure she wouldn't wake anyone if she happened to cry out again. After Snape's owl snatched her parchment from her hand and took off again, her nerves finally got the better of her, and waiting for the morning to roll around was a trial.

Her alarm startled her awake on Saturday morning at six, giving her an hour to prepare for her day before heading down to breakfast. She showered first, wanting to feel more presentable when she faced Snape; if he was going to train her, she owed him that much. After showering, she stared at the clothes in her dresser for several minutes before settling on a pair of jeans and a fitted white sweater. They hadn't discussed any rules yet, so she wasn't sure what the protocol would be, so she went with what looked the best at the moment. Pinning her bushy mass of curls up with a clip, Hermione checked her appearance in the mirror before heading down to breakfast with her bag slung over her shoulder.

When she arrived, she pushed food around her plate for a while, hoping the knot in her stomach would pass. After twenty minutes, she had only managed two bites of her toast and finally pushed her plate away. Snape had left the Head Table not long after she'd entered the Great Hall, and she knew he would be waiting in his office for her. Taking a deep breath, she rose and made her way slowly towards the dungeons. With each step, she felt her nerves ease as she reminded herself he had already agreed to train her; they only had to negotiate the terms before he would begin.

Arriving at his classroom door, she opened it and walked more confidently to his office. He had left the door ajar, and she pushed it open timidly until she saw him sitting behind his desk. Stepping fully into the room, she closed the door and moved to the seat across from him and sat, slowly expelling the breath she hadn't realized she was holding.

"Good morning, Miss Granger," Snape greeted, his eyes roaming over her with a controlled expression.

"Good morning."

"As fate would have it, Madam Pomfrey does not require any new potions to be brewed today, leaving us plenty of time to focus on negotiating your training." His eyes darkened as he leaned back against the back of his chair, meeting her gaze as he spoke. "After reviewing your assignment, I drew up our formal contract to outline the terms of your training." Snape pushed a sheet of parchment across the desk towards her, and Hermione leaned forward to gain a better view.

"You focused on your desire to gain knowledge of submission and a measure of experience. The only limits you mentioned in your assignment were sexualizing bodily functions and the forms of edge play which involve weapons. Are these truly the _only_ aspects of training you would not like to experience?" He raised his eyebrow as he regarded her, and she felt a blush tint her cheeks as she realized what he was implying.

Taking a shaky breath, she gave a short nod and looked intently down at the contract between them. "Yes." She could feel the intensity of his gaze and struggled not to squirm beneath it. When he spoke again, she relaxed slightly.

"Very well. I will provide you with regular tasks, ranging from research and essays to more private acts. These orders will not always be convenient or comfortable for you, and you will be expected to obey them or face a punishment. I expect you to inform me of anything that may interfere with your ability to perform a task, but the final decision to give or rescind the order is mine.

"I will give you a journal to write daily entries in, which are to consist of a breakdown of your day, your assignments, and anything else you wish to express to me. You will also be given a piece of jewelry to wear at all times as a reminder of your position as a trainee. Since anything as obvious as a collar would raise unwanted questions for you at the moment, it will be something much more subtle. Neither of these is an option, Miss Granger.

"You will have a safeword in case you wish to halt any activity that becomes overwhelming. Your boundaries will be pushed over the course of your training, so do not make a habit of abusing your safeword. It is meant to stop situations that are becoming unsafe for you, mentally, physically, or emotionally, not to keep from experiencing something you are simply not in the mood for. If you are uncertain of an aspect of your training, then you are to bring it to my attention in a respectful manner so that we may discuss it.

"This contract will stand for three months, at which point we will consider a new contract if you desire to continue your training. Within those three months, if you wish to terminate this agreement, then you will inform me so we may discuss your issues. Afterward, if you still wish to end the contract, then I will honor your decision. If you are in agreement with all these terms, Miss Granger, please write your safeword on the line provided and sign."

Hermione quickly glanced over the contract, ensuring Snape had given her an accurate review of its contents before scrawling her safeword on the empty line and signing her name at the bottom.

Snape took the contract from her, glancing briefly at her safeword and looking at her with a raised eyebrow. "Nox?" he asked. She shrugged weakly, not knowing how to explain the thought process that led to her decision to use it. Seeming to understand, he let the matter drop and signed his own name beneath hers. The parchment disappeared immediately after, and Snape leaned across his desk with a wicked gleam in his eyes.

"Now, Miss Granger, your training may begin." Snape sat back and watched her with his glittering black eyes as she fidgeted uncertainly before him. "Come around the desk," he ordered, finally looking away from her as he opened one of his desk drawers. Hermione rose, stepping around to stand beside his chair. "Kneel." Snape didn't look at her as he spoke, focusing instead on the small black box he removed from the drawer.

Lowering herself to her knees, she waited with a mixture of nervousness and excitement. When he turned toward her a moment later, she saw a thin chain of gold dangling between his fingers. "You will not remove this at any time without my permission, is that clear?" Snape asked, leaning forward to lay the chain around her throat and clasping it at the back. She nodded slightly in response, unable to form a proper reply. As Snape pulled away to sit upright again, one of his hands took hold of the clip in her hair and pulled it free, allowing her hair to spill down around her shoulders. One corner of his mouth turned up as he looked at her, and Hermione felt a blush rising in her cheeks again.

"If you have no objections to beginning your first lesson immediately, then we will move to my living quarters. This office is not an ideal environment for what I am planning."

"O-okay..." Hermione responded nervously, gasping as Snape grabbed her chin firmly and lifted her face.

"Would you like to try that again, Miss Granger?"

Swallowing the lump in her throat, Hermione's tongue darted out to wet her lips as she met his stern gaze. "Y-yes, Sir," she whispered, feeling a shiver run along her spine at saying the words aloud.

Snape's grip on her chin loosened, his hand moving to gently caress her cheek. As he did, she couldn't help but let out a soft whimper and attempt to press her face into the touch. When she heard him chuckle darkly above her, Hermione blushed and looked away, biting her lower lip. Her response to him confused her, although she felt entirely comfortable with the action. Noticing Snape stand, she was pulled from her thoughts and focused on him once again.

"Follow me," he commanded, striding across the room toward the door to his private rooms. Hermione jumped up to follow, a sudden wave of excitement washing over her.

/-/SSHG/-/

Hermione was led to the center of Snape's living room, noticing the emerald green rug covering the stones beneath her feet. There was a single, black leather chair to one side and a bookshelf covering the opposite wall. Most of the space was open, and Snape led her to the center of the room before turning toward her, his arms folded over his chest.

"Are you familiar with the use of submissive positions?" he asked, watching her with glittering black eyes. Mentally reviewing the books she had read, Hermione shook her head. "If I ask you a question, I expect a verbal response," Snape snapped.

"No, Sir," she murmured, looking down to her feet.

"Look at me." His voice had softened somewhat but was still stern, and she raised her eyes again. "Each position has its own purpose. While some may be similar, they are most appropriate at different times. Therefore, you will assume each position I assign you and learn when you will use it. Now, kneel." His dark eyes watched her as she lowered herself to her knees, sitting back on her heels as she looked up at him.

"Press your feet to the floor, but continue sitting on your heels," he said, slowly beginning to circle her. "Keep your head forward," he added when she turned her head to follow him, "and grasp your elbows behind your back." Hermione followed his instructions, resisting the urge to shift as her feet protested the strange position. "When you come to me for a session, or if you are ordered to kneel, this will be the position you assume." Snape paused for a moment as he continued to walk around her, waiting until she began to squirm to speak again.

"Sit," he said loudly, catching her attention, "will be your relaxed position, which you will use on my command, or when you are studying or writing in your journal, whether or not you are in my presence. Fold your legs in front of you and hold your back straight." With a wince, Hermione changed her position, glad for the relief from the ache in her knees and feet. When he gave no order for what to do with her hands, she placed them palm-down against her thighs.

"For now, I will allow you to follow or come to me by walking, with one exception. If you are to receive a punishment, you will be required to crawl. Shift to your knees and support yourself on your elbows," Snape ordered, watching as Hermione altered her position again, somewhat reluctantly. "Grab your shoulders so your arms are crossed and arch your back," he added, moving away to one side as she obeyed. "Crawl to me and back so you may get a feel for the position."

"Yes, Sir," Hermione murmured, slowly moving forward while shakily attempting to maintain her balance in the awkward position. Once she reached him, she had adjusted somewhat and was able to return to her original position more steadily.

"Very good," Snape said, stepping closer to begin circling her once again. "Your final position for the day is your down position. Press your feet to the floor as you do when you kneel, but press your upper body to the floor as well." Hermione changed her position to mimick what Snape described, extending her arms in front of her and crossing them at the wrists when he commanded. With her forehead hovering less than an inch above the rug, she was unable to see his shoes as he circled her, but the occasional stirring of the air by his cloak would give away his location.

"Kneel." His voice was not as near as she had expected, and as Hermione assumed the correct position, she realized why. Snape moved to sit in the leather chair a few feet from her, his expression controlled as he watched her. "Crawling posture." Confusion knitting her brow, Hermione shifted again to adopt the new pose. As soon as she did, he ordered her to sit, and then into her 'down' position. Over the next ten minutes, he continued to order her from one position to the next, correcting her as the unpredictable order caused her to misplace her hands or fail to lay her feet to the floor more than once.

"Come here," he ordered finally. Hermione rose and moved to stand before his chair, meeting his gaze with an expression of annoyance. Snape looked at her coolly as he continued, "You may sit and relax, Miss Granger. Unless you prefer to stand." The corner of his lip twitched as if he were amused, and Hermione huffed in response, remaining standing. "Tell me what is upsetting you. And you may speak freely," he added, noticing her torn expression as she struggled to keep her attitude in check.

"You ran me through those positions too fast for me to fully think them through in between, and I made mistakes because of it." Hermione bit her lower lip and looked away from him, shaking slightly in her frustration. "You practically set me up to fail."

"Hermione," he said calmly, startling her by the sudden usage of her first name. With a quick wandless spell, he conjured an emerald green cushion at his feet. "Please kneel." Still holding her lip between her teeth, Hermione lowered herself into her assigned kneeling position, watching him uncertainly as he leaned forward. Snape reached one hand out and placed it gently beneath her chin to lift her head, meeting her eyes steadily.

"You did not fail because you made a few simple mistakes. The point of running you through your paces is to test how much you are able to retain without practice. I corrected your slip-ups to make you more conscious of what you are forgetting so you know what you must work on. In fact, you surprised me with how well you performed." While he did not smile, she saw genuine approval in his eyes and couldn't help the swell of pride at his words.

"Thank you," she whispered, unconsciously leaning into his hand when it moved to caress her cheek again. When he pulled his hand away a moment later, she blushed at her reaction and resisted the desire to pout at the loss.

"Now, I believe we may move to a different matter that needs discussion." Summoning a piece of parchment and a quill, he handed them over to her with a satisfied smirk hovering at the corners of his lips. "Please mark those that _appeal_ to you." Glancing down at the parchment in her hands, Hermione inhaled sharply, feeling the blush in her cheeks deepen.


	14. After the Session

**Disclaimer:** I obviously don't own anything Harry Potter related, and I'm not making any money off the writing of this. It's all for my own perverted amusement! And for the record, I also do not own the book '_Nothing Denied_', or it's content; that is the work of Jess Michaels (and a fantastic read...just sayin').

There is a special Authors Note at the end of this chapter to reply to one of the reviews from the previous chapter. Since it was a review by a reader with no account or was not logged in, I wasn't able to reply to her individually. So my response is at the end of this chapter, because she raised a good question that others may have. Anyway, enjoy!

Lorcalon, and VIVAvivacious - You are amazing as always!

* * *

Hermione looked over the list Snape handed her, realizing she would have to hear many of the names used before deciding whether or not she enjoyed them. Only one stood out to her, and when her eyes locked on it, she froze. Remembering her recent dreams, she circled it eagerly before handing the parchment back to Snape.

"Is this what you would prefer to be called?" he asked, Vanishing the list and leaning forward.

"Yes, Sir," she replied, nodding. Leaning closer, Snape brushed her hair from her shoulder and brought his lips to her ear.

"Very well, _pet_," he murmured, sending a shiver down her spine. Chuckling at her reaction, he pulled away to lean back in his chair. Casting a wandless _Accio_, he caught the small book that came flying from the bookshelf and held it out to her. She immediately recognized the cover as one of the romance novels the Room of Requirement had provided for her that Snape had kept along with some other books after their meeting the week before. "As I would prefer not to push several lessons on you at once in your first session, you will read this until lunch."

Hermione nodded absentmindedly, confusion tugging down the corners of her lips as she wondered just why he was ordering this book, rather than any of the others. Noticing her confusion, Snape reached out and stroked her hair lightly. "You may make yourself comfortable while you read. I'd rather you be able to relax as you do." Summoning a book of his own from the bookshelf, Snape turned his attention away from her as she shifted onto her stomach on the floor. Casting a glance up at him from her position and seeing he was already absorbed in the text in front of him, she warily opened to the first page of _Nothing Denied_ and began to read.

/-/SSHG/-/

Closing the book softly, Hermione looked into the fireplace and watched the wood crackle and burn as she considered the story she had just read. The scenes had been graphic enough to send a tremor of arousal through her which was still a dull throb between her legs. Squirming in her position, her latest dream came to the forefront of her mind. An unintentional whimper from her lips drew Snape's attention and she blushed as she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. He was watching her with one eyebrow raised curiously, his expression one of expectation. When she remained silent, glancing away from him quickly and the red tint of her cheeks deepening, he spoke.

"Would you like to explain that sound?"

"I was only thinking, Sir," she murmured, looking intently at the rug beneath her.

"Thinking does not generally elicit that response, pet. _Fantasizing_, however, often does. Shall I assume by your shyness that is what you were actually doing?" Biting her lower lip, Hermione nodded slightly, gaining a low chuckle from him in response. "Come here."

Rising, she covered the few steps between them quickly, though she seemed to be moving at a snail's pace in her nervous mind. Snape gestured at the floor at his feet when she reached him, his black eyes glittering darkly as she knelt.

"Tell me what you were _thinking_." His voice was silky as it washed over her, sending a shiver down her spine as she looked up at him with wide eyes. The corner of his lips twitched upward in a smirk as he continued to watch her, her mouth gaping as she struggled to speak. "I'm waiting." Taking a slow, deep breath to calm her nerves, Hermione began to explain the dreams she had been having, refusing to meet his gaze.

/-/SSHG/-/

_'My feelings about my first day of training are torn. I went into this feeling at once excited and nervous, and both stayed with me throughout the day. Of course, there was the anger and frustration after learning my 'positions' and being made to run through them so quickly. Those feelings returned after lunch, when the scenario was repeated. Although I was at least given the opportunity to practice each on my own before, it made my failures no less frustrating. However, all of that was forgotten in the last few minutes of the session, and replaced by an intense happiness that I am unable to explain._

_ 'There was even a twinge of disappointment at the lack of a more traditional collar that the books mention. Now, I am having a hard time refraining from caressing the gold chain I was given. It makes me somewhat uncomfortable to have such a strong reaction to all of this, especially with it being so new to me. I cannot argue that much of this appeals to my curiosity at the very least, but I am struggling with my body's reactions more than the taboo. Even with this journal, I'm torn over how I should approach the things that I was ordered to address._

_ 'This isn't simple, and while I hadn't exactly expected it to be, it's more complicated than I was prepared for. Yet I have no desire to stop, and that surprises me. Not because giving up seems like the right idea, but because while a part of me feels unprepared for what I have gotten myself into, it feels right to be doing this.'_

Severus looked up from the dark brown journal, setting it on his desk before leaning back in his chair. He had ordered her to explain her feelings about the day in addition to the other requirements for her entry, and she certainly hadn't disappointed. The remainder of their first session had consisted of idle conversation over lunch- which he used to gain better understanding of her current knowledge of submission- and a second exercise on her positions. Keeping in mind her description of her dreams, he had included a standing order that if she had another, she was to include it in the vivid detail.

The clock behind him chimed the hour as four o' clock in the morning, and he sighed. After sending Hermione from his rooms, he had gone into his lab to brew for several hours, and had only finished an hour ago. Seeing his new submissive had written in her journal before going to sleep brought a smile to his lips, and he had found himself reading her words more than once. Finally feeling the late hour wearing on him, Severus made to stand, intending to retire to his room. As he reached to close the cover of the companion journal, however, he noticed new words were beginning to appear.

His curiosity outweighed the wave of tiredness he felt, and he found himself sitting once again behind the desk, leaning over the open book and reading the entry that began to materialize on its pages.

/-/SSHG/-/

Hermione stared at her finished entry with a sigh. She had woken up with a shock thirty minutes ago when some part of her mind suddenly recognized the voice of the 'mystery' man in her dreams. Although she had yet to see his face, what she was able to see began to register, and it left her confused and somewhat concerned. Not knowing what else to do, she found herself turning to the journal Snape had given her at the end of their session.

Before she began to write, she had debated how to approach the record of her dream. If she provided the details, he would certainly question the sudden start that awoke her. But if she failed to give her report, more questions would be asked. For several minutes, she worried her lower lip as she went back and forth between her two options before finally settling on her solution.

Rather than dive straight into the report, Hermione wrote a small entry about her uncertainty, knowing Snape would send some kind of reply after reading it. She wasn't about to admit her new discovery to him unless he demanded it. After all, there was no way to know how he would respond to the fact that, at the very least, it was his voice in her ear as the dream man coaxed her along. She couldn't say for sure it was him since she had yet to see his face, but the voice alone was enough to catch her attention. The strangest part of it was she was not as disturbed by this new realization as she suspected she should be, considering the content of many of the dreams.

* * *

_**Author's Note:**_ I do not usually respond to reviews in my updates, because I prefer to be personal and reply directly to the reviewer when there is something that needs clearing up or said. But Michelle raised two good questions, and I was unable to reply to her personally, so I wanted to answer her on here. :-)

_'When you mentioned a collar the next sentence said neither of those would work - what else was being referred to?_' I blame my funny wording of that bit for the confusion. Severus had just explained that she would have a nightly journal requirement, as well as the jewelry piece to function as a collar (rather than something more traditional) and was telling her that neither of the things was optional for her. If she agreed to training with him, she could not negotiate new terms for the journal or request not to be required to wear the jewelry; both were terms that were effectively 'set in stone' for him to be willing to train her at all.

'_And he said she would use the "sit" position when she studied and wrote in her journal? Did that mean in her room she sits on the floor instead of at her desk?_' The answer to that is a very big 'Yes!' :-) Outside of very public situations where such a thing would be inappropriate or raise questions (ie: the classroom or library, which would be a bit of an unspoken understanding), she is required to adopt that posture for studying and journal writing, and yes, she will be on the floor. I'm sure if she could find a way to make it work comfortably in a chair, we may find our crafty Gryffindor making use of it more often than during those two activities, but we'll simply have to wait and see.


	15. Mistake

**Disclaimer:** I obviously don't own anything Harry Potter related, and I'm not making any money off the writing of this. It's all for my own perverted amusement!

The plot bunnies seem to have tired of m&m's and tea lately, so if you would like to donate reviews for me to feed them, I'm sure they would appreciate it. :-D

Lorcalon, and VIVAvivacious - You are amazing as always!

* * *

"Miss Granger, how kind of you to deem my class worthy of your attendance," Snape quipped as Hermione entered the Potions classroom fifteen minutes late. The other students returned to their cauldrons, already brewing the potion on the board, while Snape was hunched over a stack of essays at his desk. She froze on the way to her seat when he spoke again, this time looking up at her with his glittering black eyes. "Would eight be agreeable for your detention this evening, or shall I delay it an extra fifteen minutes for your convenience?"

Biting her lower lip, she shook her head slightly and tossed her bag to the floor beside her desk. As she gathered the ingredients for the assignment, she noticed him glance at her from the corner of his eyes with a smirk and blushed. Since the previous week, when she had woken from her dream with a start, she had skillfully avoided having to provide him with her revelation. Still, she had the paranoid sensation that he knew, despite knowing that he hadn't used any Legilimency on her- at least, not yet.

While she began preparing her ingredients, Hermione's mind wandered to the detention she had just earned herself. It would be her first since her training began the previous week, and she couldn't help but wonder what it would be like. The thought of something much more like the punishments in her books crossed her mind, sending a shiver down her spine. Preoccupied as she was, she failed to notice her scarab shells were not properly crushed until the cauldron in front of her emitted a thick cloud of blue-gray smoke.

"Out!" Snape roared, jumping from his seat and rounding his desk quickly. "Class dismissed, get out!" He gave a vicious stab with his wand at the offending cauldron, Vanishing its contents as the students scrambled towards the door. "_Not_ you, Miss Granger," he snarled, stopping her only two feet from the hallway. Hermione swallowed nervously, studying her shoes as if they were the most interesting things in the world as she waited for him to turn on her. She heard the door shut quietly as the last student left and chanced a glance up at her professor.

He was still facing away from her, his back rigid, though she could hear his breathing tremble with what she assumed was anger. As she opened her mouth to speak, he broke the silence. "You will go to my private rooms and kneel to wait for me," he ground out, and she noticed his white-knuckled grip on his wand.

"Sir," she ventured, preparing to take a step towards him when he spun to face her with a warning expression.

"Now is not the time to discuss this, and I would advise you to do as I have just ordered and _go to my rooms_." Snape stalked away from her without another glance, slamming the door behind him with a loud bang that made Hermione jump. Tears swelled in her eyes as she looked at the door, and she quickly wiped at them with the backs of her hands, turning towards the door to his rooms.

/-/SSHG/-/

Hermione knelt on the emerald rug beside the fireplace, staring at the fine threads beneath her as she waited for Snape to enter. While she couldn't be sure, it felt as though fifteen minutes or so had passed before the fireplace flared with bright green flames. Her Dominant stepped into the room, looking down at her kneeling form with a much calmer expression than he had worn when he left. She carefully kept her eyes trained on the floor as she watched his black boots retreating towards the only chair. There was a soft sound as he sat, and she felt his eyes raking over her for a moment in silence.

"You have been excused from your remaining lesson this afternoon so you may be observed for any adverse effects from your mistake in my classroom," Snape said casually, causing her to snap her eyes up and look at him in surprise. He sounded entirely calm, and even his posture seemed relaxed; she wasn't sure whether she should feel concerned or encouraged by this. "Were you simply nostalgic for the days of Longbottom's cauldrons exploding for one reason or another, or is there some other explanation for this I should be aware of?"

A deep blush rose in her cheeks at the comparison to Neville, and Hermione lowered her eyes again in shame. "I... I was distracted, Sir," she murmured, hoping it would be explanation enough. For a moment, she thought it was, until he spoke again with a hint of annoyance in his tone.

"Thank you for stating the obvious, Miss Granger, but I was more than capable of determining that information for myself. What I would like you to explain to me is what was distracting you. Or will I have to obtain that knowledge on my own, as well?"

"No, Sir," she whispered, shaking her head quickly. There was too much of a risk inviting him into her mind when he was still unaware of her discovery about her dreams. "I was thinking about my detention and became...distracted. I'm sorry that I ruined my potion, Sir, I-"

"Look at me." Snape's voice was commanding, but not harsh, and Hermione raised her eyes to meet his. "Do not confuse our extra-curricular activities to mean you are exempted from serving a normal detention with me." Hermione fought back the pout that attempted to turn down her lips at those words, although a soft sigh managed to escape. Snape rose and stepped closer to her, lifting her chin with one long-fingered hand. "I will, however, be punishing you tomorrow."

Hermione's eyes widened, and she moved to question him, only to have Snape stop her. "Although I do not appreciate the ruined cauldron, that is not the reason." Crouching down in front of her, he looked into her eyes, his mask of control faltering slightly. "Your lapse of attention could have caused you harm, pet." She felt herself relax as he called her that, his thumb gently caressing her cheek as he brought his features under control again. "Suffice it to say, that was a moment I would prefer not to repeat."

/-/SSHG/-/

'_I find myself strangely at a loss for words as I sit down to write this, and I am rather unsure where to begin. Under more normal circumstances, I suppose it would be best to argue a defense for my mistake. Perhaps it's because of the short discussion we had on the subject that I can't find a reason to do so._

_ 'To be truthful, I am a bit nervous about my punishment. With all this being new to me, I do not know what to expect, and much to my frustration, my books have offered no insight on the matter. Will it be painful and humiliating, or something as simple as a harsh reprimand? I know you won't answer, at least until tomorrow._

_ 'Still, some part of me is a little eager for this, as much as I dislike the need to admit such a thing. It is likely the same part of me that caused my distraction in class. I'm not sure what to make of this, and it only adds to my confusion over my situation._

_ 'You wished for me to detail my thoughts and feelings from this afternoon, and confusion was one of the most consuming. I was afraid I had angered you and a bit embarrassed by my mistake. More than anything, though, I was confused. It was obvious I had upset you, and you left me alone for several minutes for reasons I am unaware of. I had initially assumed I had angered or disappointed you. Your behavior when you returned, however, has made me question that assumption. If you would be willing, it is something I would like to discuss so I can understand._'

Severus closed the journal in his hands and looked down at the young woman in front of him. Hermione had been kneeling in silence for the past fifteen minutes, shifting slightly every so often out of nervousness or discomfort. His lips curved down at the corners in a small frown as he observed her for a moment. Although she had followed his order well, he could sense the awkwardness she had felt while writing. The phrasing of the entire entry seemed overly formal, as if she was trying too hard to give the right answer. He had no doubts her words were true, but it was obvious she was struggling with something, and it was holding her back somehow.

"Pet," he said, catching her attention so she would look up at him as he leaned back into his chair. "It seems we have more to discuss this morning than just your punishment."

She met his eyes calmly, though he could see a hint of uncertainty behind the expression. "What do you mean, Sir?"

He leaned forward and watched her body stiffen slightly as she inhaled a shuddering breath. There were no traces of fear in her eyes or body language, only something very much like desire, a fact he filed away in his mind to consider later. For now, his focus was on the matter of her punishment and the conflicting emotions his submissive was fighting. "You haven't been telling me everything," he replied silkily, receiving a nearly inaudible whimper from her in response.


	16. Punishment

**Disclaimer:** I obviously don't own anything Harry Potter related, and I'm not making any money off the writing of this. It's all for my own perverted amusement!

As always, please leave offerings of reviews and lettuce for my plot bunnies; they appreciate it quite a bit!

VIVAvivacious and Lorcalon - You are amazing as always!

* * *

Hermione fumbled for a response for a moment, wondering whether honesty or a lie would be the better route. If she admitted that she had, indeed, been hiding something, Snape was going to be angry with her; and if she were to be caught out at denying it, it would be the same. Neither of her options seemed to be good ones, until a third occured to her- she could turn the situation around on him. "You've been using Legilimency on me!" she spat, narrowing her eyes and hoping that her rigid posture was interpreted as one of anger rather than nervousness.

Snape leaned back against his chair slowly, his face a mask of calm indifference. "Are you implying, Miss Granger, that one must use magic in order to know when someone is hiding things?"

The response caught her off guard, and Hermione blinked in surprise. "Well, no, but-"

"Then are you implying that a Dominant is incapable of discerning such things about his own submissive based only on her behavior?"

Swallowing in lump in her throat, Hermione shook her head, lowering her eyes to the floor. "N-no," she managed to say, before Snape interrupted her again.

"So you either believe me to be incompetent, or you do not trust me; neither of which makes your decision to be trained by me an intelligent one." She felt tears welling in the corners of her eyes and set her jaw against them. Snape's words had struck a nerve, and what had originally seemed like a safe way to avoid his questions had backfired rather spectacularly. "Look at me," he ordered, his voice soft. Biting her lower lip to keep it from trembling, Hermione raised her eyes and found him leaning towards her once again.

Gently laying his hand beneath her chin, his thumb stroked her cheek. "You are inexperienced and afraid, both of which I understand. However, if you cannot trust me, you cannot learn from me." His fingers pressed more firmly against her skin when she glanced away, a silent cue for her to look at him again. When she complied, he continued. "There will be no point in continuing your training unless you are honest with me. Do you understand?"

Not trusting herself to speak just yet, Hermione nodded, unsure if she was relieved or worried when her Dominant withdrew from her again. He watched her for several moments and she squirmed uncomfortably beneath his gaze, not knowing how to break the silence between them. When it became clear that he wasn't going to speak until she had explained, she took a shaky breath and tried to calm herself as she began.

She told him everything, keeping her eyes trained on the rug beneath her as though it held all the answers. There was no reaction from him to any of her words; at first, it was comforting that he gave her leave to speak without interruption. Once she had begun to confess the realization that it was his voice in her dreams, it made her uncomfortable. Her entire reason for keeping it from him was that she knew he wouldn't necessarily be pleased about such a thing. While he was training her, that was no reason to assume that he saw it as anything as personal as the things she had been dreaming.

After her explanation was finished, the two of them sat in silence while he considered her words. Worrying her lower lip nervously, Hermione didn't dare look up at him as she waited, afraid of what expression she might find on his face.

"Come here, Hermione."

She couldn't help but look up at him when he spoke, her eyes widened in surprise. They had never discussed him using her name before, and she had never thought that he would. Her tongue darted out to wet her dry lips as she rose to stand before him, letting out a small whimper as he unexpectedly pulled her into his lap. One hand rested against her waist, holding her still, while the other gently turned her face towards his. Despite their eyes being nearly level in this position, she still felt as if he was looking down at her, eliciting the same small shiver along her spine as kneeling before him had.

"Did you believe that I would end your training over such a little thing?"

The way he said it made her feel rather silly for her evasiveness, and Hermione turned her face away with a blush. Pressing his fingers more firmly against her chin, Snape guided her to look at him once again, his expression more stern now.

"I am surprised by this development, pet, not angered by it. However, I must wonder if perhaps it has not been my voice all along, but is simply your subconcious now adapting to our _situation_."

She gave a small nod, knowing that this explanation made sense. Still, she was unsure if that was the case. As far as she could recall, the voice had never changed, and there had been much more that was familiar about the man than that from the very beginning. Snape didn't give her long to consider this, though, before continuing to speak to her.

"As for your concerns about yesterday, you should know that it was not a form of punishment to leave you alone. Dominants are better able to punish a submissive properly if their mind is clear and their emotions are not in control. I may have been a spy for twenty years, pet, but I am still capable of that fault." His touch grew suddenly more gentle, and Hermione turned her face into his hand as he stroked her cheek. "As a teacher, I was angry, and from that perspective alone, I could have handled the situation without leaving. But as your Dominant..."

Snape paused for a moment, taking a slow breath and glancing away from her, though his hand did not leave her face. She thought he was going to finish his explanation, only to have him gently slip her from his lap to stand in front of his chair again. "Are you ready for your punishment, now?"

Hermione felt her nervousness return as she murmured a soft 'Yes, Sir' in response.

"Before we begin, do you understand why you are being punished?"

She tried to get away with only a nod, but Snape's expectant expression told her that she would have to demonstrate that she did indeed understand. "Because I was distracted in your class, Sir."

"Close, though not entirely correct." He rose and circled around behind her, his hands resting firmly against her shoulders as he guided her into a kneeling position. "Your error could have caused harm to the other students around you, or yourself. Since the source of your distraction seems to have been your training, I would like to correct that behavior before it has the opportunity to cause you further problems.

"First, however, we must make your appearance more suitable." Hermione looked up at him with her brow furrowed in confusion as Snape withdrew his wand, aiming it at her throat and gaving it a flick. She felt something rest snuggly against her neck, and instinctively reached one hand up to touch the new object. The chain that she had worn at his command was no longer there, replaced by what felt like a rather thick choker. Conjuring a small hand mirror, Snape held it before her for a moment, allowing her a proper view of the collar.

The thin band of black leather was trimmed with a single row of vibrant white stitching along the top and bottom. A small pearl gemstone was centered on the band, and in the brief moment before he withdrew the mirror, she noticed a small silver 'H' encased inside of it.

"From now on, you will wear this during our sessions. I believe it may help you to distinguish when it is appropriate to become distracted by your thoughts." One corner of his lip curved up in something akin to a smirk, and she blushed.

"Th-thank you," Hermione murmured, still in awe of the change. She had wanted a traditional collar when things had begun, but had not expected to recieve one after their negotiations. There was a tightening in her stomach as the short glimpse she had of the simple design hovered in the forefront of her mind. It took him speaking again to pull her attention back to what was happening now between them.

"Now, pet, you will share the details of the particular _idea_ that distracted you in class yesterday." He was circling her like a predator, and she stiffened at the order, feeling a flush of embarrassment rising in her cheeks. Noticing the reaction, Snape stopped in front of her, one long finger slipping beneath her chin, raising her face to look at him. "Do remember that I am not required to make this comfortable for you. Especially," he continued, releasing her face from his grasp and resuming his predatory circling of her kneeling form, "after your lack of communication since you began your training."

"Must I say it, though, Sir? Couldn't you just...look?" She knew without turning her head that her Dominant had frozen at her words, and instantly regretted her question.

"Was one occasion of questioning me not enough for you, Miss Granger, that you must now attempt to avoid the punishment I have decided upon?" Snape's voice was low and quiet, and in many ways more frightening than if he had bellowed his words at her.

Twisting to look up at him, her eyes wide, she replied, "I'm sorry, Sir, it's just that-"

"You are afraid and fighting with your self-preservation, despite the fact that something much deeper in you is attempting to obey." He was meeting her eyes, his face an expressionless mask, offering neither comfort nor judgement. Lowering her eyes, she nodded slightly, knowing that he was correct. "Before your training began, you were aware that this would not be easy." Snape began moving again, slowly finishing the circle he was pacing around her as he did. "I will not force you to comply. But if you will not speak to me, then I will not train you."

A soft gasp escaped her lips as she raised her head again, finding him sitting in his chair in front of her, watching her expectantly. She only considered her options for a moment before opening her mouth to speak, returning her gaze to the floor.

"I imagined you punishing me, Sir." Ignoring the blush that crept into her cheeks, she swallowed and continued, knowing that he would not allow her to get off so easily. "I wondered if you might drape me over your lap and spank me, or if you would prefer other methods. My books mentioned things such as canes and paddles for implements, and," her voice caught as she remembered one of the more curious thoughts that had entered her mind, "candle wax.

"I had gone through the ideas that appealed to me and frightened me, and was considering which seemed to suit you the most when my cauldron exploded."

"Which method did you find most appealing, pet?"

The blush in her cheeks deepend as she answered, "The spanking." From the corner of her eye, she saw his lips twitch into a smirk as he considered her for a moment. He leaned forward slightly, and she lifted her face to look at him better, feeling another shiver ripple along her spine at the expression in his eyes.

"And what did you believe would be my prefered means of punishment?"

Her mind instantly drew up the image she had created in class the afternoon before, of Professor Snape leaning over her bound body, dripping the wax of a candle over her body as she cried out beneath the hot liquid. She licked her chapped lips quickly as she met his eyes steadily. "Candles, Sir."

When he leaned away from her again, a shiver tore along her spine, though whether it was from the dark glint in his eyes or the dangerous chuckle that escaped him, she didn't know.


	17. Punished Again

**Disclaimer:** I obviously don't own anything Harry Potter related, and I'm not making any money off the writing of this. It's all for my own perverted amusement!

Reviews are love, even if they're only a few words to say you like the way things are going, so please leave one on your way out.

Thank you as always to VIVAvivacious and Lorcalon, my two amazing betas! You're both wonderful!

* * *

'_I will not entertain fantasies of my Dominant spanking my bare bum while I am in class._'

'_I will not entertain fantasies of my Dominant spanking my bare bum while I am in class._'

'_I will not en-_'

Hermione set her quill down for a moment, rubbing the backs of her hands against her eyes in an attempt to disperse the sleep from them. She had written the same lines one hundred times a night since her session on Saturday with Snape, and was growing tired of repeating them in her mind already. It was her last night of this punishment, for which she was thankful, but that didn't stop her hand from protesting against the repetitive motions as she scrawled the same sentence over and over again. Taking another glance at the clock, she saw it was nearly one in the morning and groaned.

Ron and Harry had managed to talk her into a small wizard's chess competition with the other Gryffindors after dinner that evening. For once, luck had seemed to be on her side, and she managed to win several matches until facing Ron. She lost to him in only seven moves, but decided to stay in the common room to watch the rest of the games play out. When it had finally ended at ten 'till twelve, Hermione had darted to her room with a gasp, nearly throwing herself onto the floor in her rush to pen an entry in her journal.

Plucking her feather quill from the rug beneath her, she began writing once again, determined to finish. Her lower back ached slightly from her stiff position, but after two weeks of this routine, it was much more comfortable than it had been the first night. By the time she had finished her remaining lines for the evening, the clock beside Hermione's bed marked the hour at quarter past one. The realization that she would have to be awake in less than six hours had set in, and she yawned loudly as she rose from her 'sit' position.

She carefully placed her leather journal on her desk before shedding her clothes, tossing them into the corner as she rifled through her assorted pyjamas for something warm. Once she had dressed, she moved to the bathroom to run a brush through her tangled hair. As she did so, she allowed her mind to wander to the upcoming Christmas holiday. The train would be leaving to take the students back to London next Friday morning, and a small part of her was not looking forward to leaving.

Even though it had only been three weeks since she had started her training, the idea of two weeks away from it was not too appealing. However, the thought of missing Christmas with her parents was no better, and Hermione quickly pushed those thoughts aside. Remembering that the Hogsmeade weekend had been extended to include Sunday, she focused instead on reviewing her holiday shopping list as she finished preparing for bed.

/-/SSHG/-/

When Hermione arrived in the dungeons at five till eight on Saturday morning, she found the doorway to Professor Snape's private rooms left open for her. He was standing beside the fireplace, facing away from her as she stepped into the room, though he brought his wand out from one pocket of his robes. She felt the gold chain around her neck transfigure into the collar once again as he spoke. "Kneel, Hermione."

Adopting her assigned position, she kept her eyes focused on her Dominant as he turned to face her, idly twisting his ebony wand between two long fingers. "Last night, the assigned punishment for your distraction last Friday was completed to my satisfaction." The corners of Hermione's lips curved upwards in a small smile until Snape's eyes met her own and she saw that his expression was not approving. "However, you also failed to follow your protocol last night."

Her eyes widened slightly at his words, and she felt a small rush of panic surge through her. She replayed the last few hours of her evening over in her mind, hoping to discover what he was referring to. After her last class, she had joined Harry and Ron in the library to study, and then attended dinner in the Great Hall, followed by the Wizard's Chess games she had played with the other Gryffindors. None of it set off any warnings as being against the rules of her training, few as they were. And she had obviously finished her lines before bed, or he would not have announced her punishment completed.

A small gasp escaped her lips, and Hermione pulled her lower lip between her teeth for a moment as she gave her Dominant a wary glance. "I... I didn't write a proper entry in my journal." He inclined his head slightly in acknowledgement, and she lowered her eyes to her lap with a soft groan. "I'm sorry, Sir," she muttered, focusing on her hands as she wrung them nervously.

"When you signed your contract to begin training with me, you understood that you would be required to write a daily entry. Until last night, you have obeyed that rule perfectly. Had there simply been no entry at all, I would feel inclined to ask what prevented you from writing one yesterday. However, you did find the time to complete your assigned lines for the evening, which tells me that you did indeed have the opportunity to do so."

"I was tired!" she interrupted, immediately regretting the outburst when Snape's hand appeared beneath her chin to tilt her face upwards again.

"And you believe that is an excuse, Miss Granger?" Letting out a soft whimper at the harsh look in his eyes, Hermione shook her head, and he withdrew to walk behind her. "Stand," he ordered, sending her jumping to her feet in response to his sharp tone. She turned to face him, glancing at him through her lashes and tensing as she noticed that he was holding a length of rope in his hands, with another draped over the back of his chair.

"S-Sir?"

"Lay yourself over the arm of the chair," he ordered, his expression leaving her no room for argument. Hermione moved slowly, turning towards the chair and bending herself over the leather armrest, struggling to keep her nerves in check. Snape's hand gently stroking her hair startled her slightly, and she looked up at him uncertainly over her shoulder. "Do you trust me?" The question caught her off guard given their situation, but she nodded, knowing that she did. "Then trust my judgment for your punishment."

To her surprise, Hermione found the tension in her body easing with his words, and she turned her face back to the chair beneath her. Removing his hand from her bushy mass of curls, Snape took her left arm and extended it along her side, pressing it snugly against her leg. "Do not move," he commanded, repeating the action on her right side before kneeling on the floor behind her. She felt the rope begin wrapping around her right elbow, twisting slowly down the length of her arm in a crossing pattern. Every few moments, he would pause to add a knot or two before continuing the design. Once he reached her wrist, Snape lifted her leg slightly to pass the ropes arond her jean-clad thighs as well, binding her arm and leg together. It was a slow process, as if Snape was taking painstaking efforts to ensure the placement of the rope was perfect.

While he busied himself restraining her, Hermione focused on the cool feeling of the leather chair against her cheek and keeping still. Knowing she would be unable to move her arms only made her want to do so, and it was difficult not to squirm against the unfamiliar position. When Snape finally moved to bind her other arm and leg, she began to count in her head in an effort to distract herself. She had reached one hundred and fifty seven when her Dominant withdrew from her and stood.

There was a soft shuffling noise behind her for a moment, and then she saw Snape's robes enter her field of vision and glanced upwards. A small gasp escaped her as she saw the thin wooden rod in his hands. "Rattan, Miss Granger," he said, holding the cane out to her to give her a better view. "You will receive ten swats with this as punishment for disregarding your protocol. Do you understand?"

Hermione bit her lower lip, not trusting her voice if she spoke, and nodded in response. Snape met her eyes for a moment before circling around behind her again. Worrying her lower lip, she tensed in preparation for the first strike, resulting in a slight jump in surprise when her Dominant gently trailed the tip of the cane along her spine. A shiver followed along behind it, and she found herself relaxing, despite her nervousness.

As if this was what he'd been waiting for, Snape cracked the rattan cane across the swell of her ass once, eliciting a loud gasp from her lips. He paused for a moment before the second swat, which landed a few inches below the first and sounded out a loud thud against her jeans. With the fabric between the cane and her flesh, her reaction to the pain was delayed, but not dulled. When the third strike landed at an angle to overlap the first two, Hermione let out a quiet hiss and squeezed her eyes shut. His fourth strike was equally well-aimed, landing just a fraction of an inch beneath his second. The fifth fell solidly against the crease of her legs, where they met her ass, and brought the first sting of tears to her eyes.

While his next five blows were more heavy-handed than the first, they were not expressly painful. She managed to keep her tears restrained through the last of the swats, though only just. When he had finished, Snape set the cane aside before crouching down beside Hermione. He gently brushed one of her curls away from her face, and she leaned into the touch with a loud sniffle. Her eyes were watery, and her lower lip was trembling despite being held firmly between her teeth.

Vanishing the ropes that bound her, Snape helped Hermione stand on her unsteady legs, holding her firmly to his chest for a moment. "You did well, pet," he murmured against her hair, feeling her relax at his words. He guided her into a sitting position on the floor as he placed himself in the leather chair, chuckling slightly as she immediately leaned against his leg. She rested her head against his knee for a moment before pulling away with a soft gasp.

"I-I'm sorry, Sir," she said, turning to look at the floor with a blush in her cheeks. "I didn't mean to..." Her words trailed off as Snape's pale hand reached out to grasp her chin gently, bringing her eyes back to his face.

"If that is the position you are most comfortable in at the moment, pet, then I will not demand you change it." Glancing up at him with a shy smile, Hermione gave a small nod as she laid her head against her Dominant's knee again, feeling strangely comforted by the position.

"Thank you, Sir..."

* * *

Just so everyone knows, I'm in the middle of dealing with some personal stuff, which means I'm on a tiny hiatus to get myself sorted. Chapter 18 is with the lovely betas, and will go up as soon as they're done with it, but I won't be starting work on chapter 19 until after my birthday on Sept. 14th. So while you wait, why not take a read at some of my other pieces on here (like the grangersnape100 drabbles), or friend me over on LiveJournal if you've got one. The link is in my profile. :-)


	18. Surprises

**Disclaimer:** I obviously don't own anything Harry Potter related, and I'm not making any money off the writing of this. It's all for my own perverted amusement!

Apologies for taking so long to get this chapter posted. All I will say is that something was preventing it from being 'ready', but now I present it to you with a nice big smile and a plea for you to feed my plot bunnies. Oh, and enjoy!

Thank you as always to Lorcalon, my amazing beta! You're wonderful!

* * *

"So, are you still coming with us to Hogsmeade tomorrow?" Harry asked when Hermione entered the Gryffindor common room after dinner on Saturday evening. After her punishment, Snape had led her to the lab to brew a few potions for the holiday, which had taken most of the afternoon. With the casualties of the war, more students would be remaining at the school for Christmas than had been the norm over past years. Knowing that it would be a sensitive season for those who stayed behind, Madam Pomfry had requested a fairly large supply of Calming Draughts and Dreamless Sleep potions. They had finished brewing halfway through dinner, and by the time Hermione made it to the Great Hall, Harry and Ron had already left.

"I already told you yesterday that I would, Harry, so why are you asking again?" She watched him shift uncomfortably for a moment before finally opening his mouth to speak, only to be interrupted by Ron as he placed himself on the arm of Hermione's chair.

"He wants to know if you're gonna make a scene with Gin again," he said, oblivious to the expression of discomfort on their friend's face. "I mean, you haven't spoken to her since last month, and you did kind of overreact that day. She was ju-"

"She was just trying to _hex_ me, Ronald," Hermione snapped, standing and glaring at him in anger. He was about to speak again when Harry grabbed his arm and pulled him from the arm of the chair. "Goodnight to both of you," she hissed, stepping around Ron and heading for the dormitory stairs, ignoring Harry when he asked for her to wait. "Stupid, inconsiderate git," she muttered under her breath as she pushed open the door to her room. The loud slam of it against the frame as she shut it again did little to soothe her anger, and she looked around for her bag, intending to bury herself in some piece of homework for a while.

She had just found her bag on the floor beside her desk when Bryna rapped sharply against her closed window. "Oh, what now?" she groaned to herself, half-expecting Snape to be informing her of another misstep she had made today. Opening the window, she held out her arm for the owl, who promptly landed on her forearm with a soft hoot. "Well you seem to be in a pleasant mood today," Hermione murmured, removing the small parcel tied to the bird's leg. Bryna took off again with a soft hoot, and she closed her window against the cold air outside.

Loosing the thin string around the parcel, which was hardly larger than the palm of her hand, she opened the plain wrapping. There was a small violet bottle inside, as well as a piece of folded parchment which she examined first.

_While any lingering soreness as a result of your punishment this morning would serve as a reminder to be more attentive in the future, your exceptional behavior as a new submissive has earned you a small reward, pet._

_Add the contents of this vial to your bath this evening and relax with a book of your choosing._

_You may postpone tonight's journal entry until tomorrow evening, as long as you remember to record the events of _both_ days._

_S.S._

Hermione's anger at Ron's behavior was forgotten as she set the note from her Dominant aside with a small smile. She felt a thrill of pride that she had done something right as she took the bottle in her hands and nearly sprinted into her bathroom. Sitting on the edge of her tub, she began to fiddle with the taps until the water ran hot and steam was slowly clouding the mirror above the sink. Pulling the frosted-glass stopper from the bottle, Hermione charmed it to slowly pour beside the running faucet while she undressed. The tub had filled by the time she was finished, and she closed the taps after checking to be sure the bottle had emptied.

A pleasant floral scent was radiating from the water as she slid into it, a soft moan escaping her lips. She stretched out, leaning her head against the back of the tub as her eyes closed for a moment. Her body tingled slightly as though someone were giving her a gentle massage, and her muscles began to slowly relax.

/-/SSHG/-/

"Fifteen points from Gryffindor, Miss Granger," Snape snapped as Hermione took her seat on Thursday. The week had passed in the usual pre-holiday routine, and the students returning home for Christmas would be boarding the train in the morning. Due to a few third-years who were under the impression the holiday had already begun, she arrived in the dungeon class room only a moment before the lesson began. She glanced at the Potions textbook he just dropped in front of her as he spoke and then up at his face. Opening her mouth to protest, he cut her off with a smirk, "For using my classroom as your personal lost and found."

He strode away without giving her the opportunity to respond, and addressed the class with a sneer. "To determine whether or not the past four months have been a waste of my time, you will each brew a potion of your own design during the class today. Without," he added, ceasing the immediate scramble of the students for their books, "the aid of your text." In any other class, there would have been a collective groan, but years under Snape's sharp gaze kept them all silent. It did not, however, prevent the exchanges of worried glances throughout the room. Hermione stuffed the second textbook into her bag as Snape turned away with the order for them to begin.

She joined the crowd of students who jumped up to look through the ingredients cupboard, glancing over the labeled vials and jars for a moment before the flask of liquid antimony caught her eye. Pushing her way closer, she quickly snatched it from the shelf, along with a handful of wiggentree bark, peppermint, and a few other basic ingredients. Most of the others remained in front of the stores for several minutes while she began to brew, combining the recipes for an advanced calming draught with a healing salve and editing them in her mind. As she added the first measurement of wiggentree bark, she hoped her adjustments would be correct for creating an oil with the properties of both.

As she was adding a bit of powdered moonstone to the violet liquid, Snape broke the silence of the classroom with a warning that their time was nearly finished. Hermione bit her lip, focusing on stirring the potion until the color changed into a silvery peach. Relaxing, a small smile turned up the corners of her mouth as she began to ladle her potion into a clear bottle and label it with her name. She placed it on Snape's desk a moment later, at the same time as Luna and a Ravenclaw boy whose name couldn't remember, and all three of them were dismissed for the day.

When she stepped out of the classroom, she found her blonde-haired friend waiting for her in the hall. Luna smiled and withdrew a small box from her bag, holding it out towards Hermione. "For the milgifizzles," she said, and Hermione's brow furrowed in confusion as she accepted the offering. "That made you forget your book," Luna added in explanation. "I think you need them more than I do." The other girl walked away before she was able to ask anything, and she lifted the lid curiously. Inside were two chocolate truffles and the empty paper cups that had likely held others. She was about to eat one when a faint smell assaulted her nose.

Slamming the lid closed, she stuffed the box into her own bag with a shudder. Luna had meant well, but no matter how beneficial armadillo bile was for focusing, Hermione had no desire to ever ingest it outside of a Wit-Sharpening potion. Her friend had, however, reminded her of the mysterious book Professor Snape had forced on her at the beginning of the lesson. Quickly slipping into the steady stream of students now exiting the classroom behind her, she pulled her lower lip between her teeth and frowned.

'Why in Merlin's name would he give me a book he knew wasn't mine?'

/-/SSHG/-/

'_It would likely be best if you did not attempt to remove my sticking charm until you return to the castle after the holiday. As you recall, your own have the habit of slipping._

_Over the course of your Christmas holidays, you will read the first four chapters of this book._

_You will also respond to the following in your journal as an essay:_

_How do your skills, strengths, _and _weaknesses compliment your submission?_

_S.S.'_

Hermione slipped the note back beneath the cover of the 'Potions' book before adding it to her enlarged satchel. She had nearly laughed when she realized that Snape had disguised one of the books she had handed over before her training as a school text book. Although she had done the same, it seemed uncharacteristic that a man like him would do so. "Then again," she muttered aloud, placing her bag on top of her trunk before throwing herself across her bed, "this isn't the first time he's surprised me."


	19. Holiday Shopping

**Disclaimer:** I obviously don't own anything Harry Potter related, and I'm not making any money off the writing of this. As an added disclaimer while I am playing in this particular sandbox, I would like to add that there are many ways to have a D/s relationship, and this is only portraying one of them.

You guys know the drill; reviews are love! And enjoy the chapter!

Thank you, as always, to Lorcalon - the awesome beta without whom this would all be full of errors!

* * *

The Monday after she returned home, Hermione accompanied her parents out to finish their holiday shopping. Although she'd been able to finish her own shopping during the trip to Hogsmeade the weekend before she left, it was a nice opportunity to do a little browsing for herself. She parted with her parents at the first shop on the strip, agreeing to meet them for lunch at a small cafe at half-two, and went in search of a bookshop. Her parents hadn't bought her a book for Christmas in three years, knowing that her reading habits had changed during the last few years due to the war – although they had no personal understanding of its events. While it was, in a way, disappointing not to see the tell-tale shape of a book beneath their tree, it had the benefit of allowing her to freely browse so close to the holiday.

Pushing open the door to the fair-sized shop at the far end of the street, Hermione cast a brief smile at the aged woman behind the desk. It had been months since she'd been in, but she knew the layout by heart, and made a beeline for one of the few sections she had never bothered with before – Romance. Most of the shelves devoted to the genre were lined with nearly identical covers of shirtless men with their arm around a woman, or their hand grasping a weapon. Not one stood out from those surrounding it, and she frowned. _Nothing Denied_ had sparked her interest somewhat, and yet the selection in front of her held nothing similar that she could see.

However, determined as she was, Hermione knelt down to get a better look at the lowest shelf of books, noticing that none of them had been turned to face outward. A small metal plate attached to wood above the titles was stamped with 'Erotica', and she smiled. One by one, she began removing books to read their summaries, before replacing them with a quick shake of her head. While better than the array of novels on the shelves above, none seemed to approach any kind of Dominant/submissive dynamic. She was about to give up entirely when the name Jess Michaels stamped across the binding of one she hadn't looked at yet. Plucking it from the shelf, Hermione examined the summary on the back eagerly.

Satisfied that it was in similar enough style to the previous book she had read, Hermione clutched the copy of _Taboo_ to her chest as she stood to head for the register. As she made her way down the main aisle of the shop, her eyes strayed to the various displays of new releases and special deals arranged at the ends of the bookshelves. Most of them were self-help books or the newest addition in whatever series had become most popular in the past months. One display close to the register, however, caught her attention.

Unlike most of the others, only one title occupied the stand, rather than three or four. '_Good, Evil and the Merits of Each_' was stamped across the otherwise plain covers, with the author's name beneath in a smaller font. Hermione took one from the stack and flipped it open to skim through the introduction. It struck her as the type of book her Dominant might appreciate, and she glanced at the back to check the price quickly. Pulling her lower lip between her teeth, Hermione looked uncertainly at the amount printed on the sticker, contemplating whether it would be worth purchasing or not.

She didn't have enough money to buy both books in her hands, and while they hadn't discussed it, she felt she should buy a gift for Snape anyway. He was going out of his way to help her, and, if she were entirely honest with herself, she _wanted_ to give him a present for the holiday. Somewhat reluctantly, Hermione set _Taboo_ aside on a nearby shelf and held the new book firmly in her hands as she approached the register.

"Find what you were looking for?" asked the grey-haired woman as she handed over her purchase and a bill from the pocket of her jeans.

"I think so," Hermione replied, a small smile touching the corners of her mouth.

/-/SSHG/-/

Lunch with her parents was an ordinary affair, full of casual chitchat about their shopping and plans for the remainder of Hermione's holiday. When they had finished, she took the opportunity to Apparate to Diagon Alley before joining them at home. Eeylops Owl Emporium offered an owl post service and, rather than waiting until she returned to Hogwarts to give Snape his gift late, Hermione wished to send it in time for Christmas.

Diagon Alley was as crowded as she had expected it to be and she had to weave her way through the street to reach the storefront. What little Wizarding money Hermione had left of what she'd exchanged at the beginning of her school year was in a small clutch at the bottom of her purse. As she pushed open the door, the sound of wings rustling and a few annoyed hoots from the owls brought the owner from the back room.

"How may I assist you?" he asked with a smile as she approached the counter. Glancing down to notice the book Hermione was removing from its bag, his smile seemed to broaden slightly. "Need to send a gift for the holiday, do you?"

"Yes, please." Hermione matched his smile with one of her own as she withdrew the clutch from inside her purse.

"Since it's for the holiday, would you like this to be gift wrapped as well?" Hermione hadn't thought of wrapping the book separately beneath the usual brown paper that they would wrap it in before sending it off, and she nodded after a moment. "Excellent," the man said cheerily, pulling a roll of rather shiny gift wrap from beneath the counter. Hermione nearly laughed when she noticed the stripes of red and gold that covered it.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the small display of owl treats beside the small register and held one up. "Are these a good choice for a sooty owl?" The man glanced up as he finished wrapping the book and shook his head.

"If you want something for a sooty, I'd have to go get them from the back," he said, taping down the last corner of the wrapping paper. Checking the amount of money in her clutch, Hermione nodded with another smile. "I'd like that, if you wouldn't mind."

/-/SSHG/-/

Her training did not fit as smoothly into her 'real' life as Hermione had originally imagined. She had received a strange look from her mother when she sat on the floor of their living room after dinner to work on homework. While the boys had never questioned her new fondness for sitting on the common room rug, her parents were more inclined to point it out. Luckily, she was able to pass it off as a force of habit born of months sitting on the floor while doing homework at school. After a moment of awkward adjusting, however, she was able to adapt her 'sit' position to the couch while she finished her Arithmancy essay.

Finding an excuse to slip off to her room to read the book Snape had given her in class on Thursday proved to be a more difficult challenge. She was not normally one to hide out in her bedroom and she was hesitant to try bringing it downstairs, even if it was disguised. In the end, she decided to wait until her mum and dad had gone to bed for the evening to bring it from it's hiding place in her trunk.

The chapters she had been assigned were a quick read. It only took her an hour to finish them before turning her focus to her journal and the essay her Dominant had given her.

/-/SSHG/-/

'_My strengths are the easiest to address, because their benefit to my submission is obvious. I'm confident in myself, which helps me follow through without constantly second-guessing my decisions or desires. It also allows me to accept this side of myself somewhat easier than I suspect I would have otherwise. Since I am able to retain most information quickly, I do not need to be instructed multiple times on the same task. While I recognize I do still need reminders and such, I remember small details of my tasks and other aspects of my training very well._

_ 'When it comes to my skills, I believe their complement is restricted to areas of service, rather than my submission in general. I'm a rather competent brewer, which is helpful should my Dominant become ill and require a potion. My skills in Transfiguration and Conjuration can be of use for more domestic tasks, which is an aspect of submission that, admittedly, appeals to me._

_ 'Addressing the impact of my weaknesses, however, is much more difficult for me. Since I do not enjoy examining my flaws, having to do so now, even in an attempt to view them in a more positive manner, is not my favorite task. My most influential weakness at the moment seems to be my difficulty with being less formal in my journal. It is a positive thing for my submission because it helps to keep my feelings out in the open, rather than allowing me to hide behind an easy brush-off. With my almost obsessive need to learn about anything I find fascinating, once I discovered the Dominant and submissive lifestyles, I became determined to become as familiar with them as I could. As I am so drawn to them, that is certainly to my benefit._

_ 'I doubt that I have covered everything, although that could be one of my weaknesses speaking. I try rather hard to do everything perfectly because I have a need to prove myself. In any other environment, it can often be seen as a negative, and yet, as a submissive, it seems to be a useful trait that keeps me striving for better behavior.'_

/-/SSHG/-/_  
_

Hermione smiled slightly to herself as she read the short essay again, ensuring that it said what she had intended to say. Her mandatory journal entry for the day had been the first thing she wrote, before facing the task of so much self-examination. It had been somewhat helpful to be forced to look at the aspects of her personality in a different perspective; especially what she perceived to be her weaknesses.

After letting out a muffled yawn against the back of her hand, Hermione closed her journal and tucked it beneath her arm, shuffling quietly off to her waiting bed.


	20. Christmas Holiday

**Disclaimer:** I obviously don't own anything Harry Potter related, and I'm not making any money off the writing of this. As an added disclaimer while I am playing in this particular sandbox, I would like to add that there are many ways to have a D/s relationship, and this is only portraying one of them.

The usual ditty goes here about please leave my plot bunnies some reviews. It's better than carrots to them, lol.

Thank you, as always, to Lorcalon - the awesome beta without whom this would all be full of errors!

* * *

A sharp rap of a talon against her window pane woke Hermione early on Christmas morning. Dragging herself out of bed and tugging a warm robe around her shoulders against the slight chill, she opened the window and narrowed a half-awake glare at the dark owl that fluttered inside. "He couldn't have sent you at a more reasonable hour?" she asked, dashing the backs of her hands over her eyes in an attempt to remove the traces of sleep from them. Bryna hooted in response as she released the rather large package she was carrying onto Hermione's vacated bed. The bird swooped back out the open window again before she could say anything else, and she gratefully closed it again behind her.

Glancing at the clock, Hermione sighed softly, realizing that it was only just after seven and she was awake more than an hour earlier than she had to be. She tossed her robe back over her desk chair before sitting on the edge of her bed, pulling the package from her Dominant closer. Although she had sent a gift for him, she hadn't expected to receive one in return. As she untied the strings holding the customary brown paper closed, she couldn't help but smile.

While it could have been nothing more than a coincidence, she had a feeling that the emerald green wrapping paper with thin, silver pinstripes was most likely a lighthearted retaliation for the paper her gift to him had been wrapped in. Slipping her fingers beneath one corner of the wrapping, Hermione opened her gift and removed the lid from the black box beneath. A quiet gasp escaped her lips as she took in the arrangement of vials inside. Each was label-side up, marked with Snape's distinct scrawl as bath oil, shampoo, conditioner, and lotion, as well as a smaller bottle of a perfume.

Plucking the bath oil from the box and opening it, her smile broadened. It smelled the same as the vial he had sent her before she left school for the holiday. She had thanked him extensively for it afterward, expressing her fondness for the scent. When she replaced the bottle , her eye caught the slim box tucked between the lotion and perfume. Removing it with a look of curiosity, Hermione lifted the lid and her eyes widened.

Inside was a thin bracelet, with one small charm dangling from its center. The tiny cat shifted as it was exposed to the light, lifting its head to blink at her. Even with the small size of the charm, Hermione could see the animal's resemblance to Crookshanks. As she picked the bracelet up to examine it closer, she felt tears welling in the corners of her eyes.

She had only mentioned Crooks to her Dominant once, a few weeks before while they were brewing potions for Madam Pomfrey. Her familiar had died when the Weasley's evacuated the Burrow during the war, hit by a stray spell fired by one of the attacking Death Eaters. There was still a pang of pain in her heart when she thought of him, and she had to rub at her eyes again with the back of her hand. Looking back down at the charm in her hands, she watched the creature flick its tail at her, and couldn't help but smile.

Despite the fact that she had only mentioned her lost pet in passing, Snape had remembered it. The gesture alone meant as much to her as the gift itself, and her smile slowly became less sad as she laid the bracelet over her wrist. Clasping it snugly in place, she pushed herself up from her bed and made her way towards the small bathroom down the hall. She was too awake now to try going back to sleep, and resolved to get dressed for the day early before going down to the kitchen and starting breakfast.

/-/SSHG/-/

Over the course of her two weeks at home, Hermione had developed a bit of a routine for her evenings. As soon as her parents retired to bed, she had taken to bringing her journal down to the living room and sitting on the floor to write. Two days before she was due to board the Hogwarts Express to return to school, she brought one of her textbooks out after finishing her journal entry. Before she had realized that her eyes were getting heavy, Hermione fell asleep with the book laid open in her lap, her head tilted back against the cushions of the couch.

The room that she opened her eyes to was familiar. Snape's well-shined boots were in front of her face, reflecting the firelight as they had the first time she had dreamt of them. Soft carpet pressed against the flesh of her cheek and Hermione shifted slightly to glance up without lifting her head. Rather than her Dominant's face, she was met with the sight of a book held open in his long-fingered hands. Smiling to herself, she pulled herself up into her kneeling position beside his feet. "What are you up to, pet?"

Glancing upwards again, she noticed that Snape still hadn't closed his book, although he was now watching her over the top of it. "Nothing, Sir," she replied softly, scooting herself closer to him to rest her cheek against his thigh. Arching one brow at the action, the dark-haired wizard placed the book aside on the arm of his chair as he looked down at her.

"That certainly doesn't appear to be 'nothing'." Averting her eyes to study the fabric of Snape's trousers, Hermione idly fidgeted with the hem of his pant-leg. She felt the flush rising in her cheeks as his dark eyes raked over her, making her feel strangely exposed despite the jumper and Muggle jeans she was dressed in. "By all means, however, please continue."

Hermione darted a quick look at his face through her lashes before relaxing at the approving expression on her Dominant's face. Swallowing the small lump of nervousness that rose in her throat, she moved herself slowly between his slightly parted legs, half afraid that he would say something to stop her. Instead, however, Snape reached one hand out to caress her curls, left unbound the way that he liked it to be during their training sessions. With a soft hum of approval, Hermione leaned into the contact, trailing her hands lightly upwards over Snape's trouser-clad legs.

He made no sound of protest or encouragement when they approached the fastenings of his trousers. When he did not move to push her away, she took that as approval enough and continued. As she opened the button and began tugging at the zipper, Snape slipped one slim finger beneath her chin, lifting her face to meet his gaze. Noticing his expression, Hermione darted her tongue out to wet her slightly dry lips.

"Please?" she asked softly. The corner of his mouth twitched slightly as he leaned back in his chair, and she expelled a breath that she didn't realize she had held. Smiling again, Hermione tugged open the fabric of her Dominant's trousers. Her breath hitched in her throat as she took in the impressive length of his semi-erect cock, unrestrained by any kind of briefs.

Wrapping her hand around its base somewhat uncertainly, she gave the hardening flesh a few hesitant strokes. Catching the soft intake of breath from above her at the touch, Hermione felt more confident as she squeezed him gently. She'd had a few fumbling encounters with Ron the year before, although this had been the farthest they had gotten. It was a blessing of dreams, then, that she was more certain of her actions now.

Leaning closer to him, Hermione trailed her tongue along the vein on the underside of Snape's cock before wrapping her lips around the flesh. As she did, the familiar sensation of the older man's fingers brushing through her hair elicited a contented hum from her lips. Her Dominant groaned quietly, lifting his hips slightly to push himself further into her mouth. Surprised by the action, Hermione let the head brush against the back of her throat for a moment before withdrawing only a bit.

"Too much for you?" Snape asked quietly, once again threading his fingers gently through his submissive's hair. Hermione nearly purred in response, closing her eyes in pleasure. Rather than pull away to answer, she hollowed her cheeks slightly and slid her mouth down along Snape's shaft until her lips brushed against the base. Prepared for it, she was able to take all of his length without needing to pull away, and the fingers in her hair tightened into a fist with a hissed breath.

"Little slut," he murmured above her and a shiver rippled along Hermione's spine. She slowly moved her mouth back and forth along Snape's cock, sucking gently as she did. The heaviness to his breathing filled her ears, interrupted every now and again by a quiet groan when her tongue would brush against a sensitive bundle of nerves. Snape's hold on her hair was firm, although it was nowhere near unpleasant as he began guiding the slow bobbing of her head.

The groan that escaped him when Hermione pressed her lips firmly around the base of his cock and allowed him to fill her throat sent another pleasant shiver through her. Shifting somewhat uncomfortably, she tried to ignore her own sense of need that was slowly building as she continued. Her Dominant's hand moved closer to the nape of her neck, firmly grasping a handful of her hair there to guide her movements. He was more insistent now, pushing her to a somewhat quicker pace as her tongue brushed against his hard flesh with each upwards motion. "That's my girl," Snape muttered softly, pressing his head back against the chair's cushioned backing.

A thrill she couldn't explain went through her at that small comment, and Hermione's attentions became a bit more eager. Feeling a slight ache in her jaw, however, she pulled away after a moment to take a breath. She glanced up at Snape's face as she began stroking his length with her hand again, and noticed that he was watching her still with a wicked glint in his dark eyes. Before she realized what was happening, Hermione found herself being yanked upwards into his lap by a sharp tug on her hair.

Gasping at the twinge of pain, she startled herself awake, blinking in the orange light of the lamp beside the couch. The house around her was silent, other than her own somewhat heavy breathing, and she pushed herself up onto unsteady legs. She gathered her books up in her arms, flicking the light switch off on the way towards her room. Her cheeks were aflame at the dream, though it was less to do with embarrassment and more with her own enjoyment of it. Kicking the door to her bedroom closed behind her, Hermione cast a strong silencing charm with a brisk flick of her wand.


	21. Coming Clean

**Disclaimer:** I obviously don't own anything Harry Potter related, and I'm not making any money off the writing of this. As an added disclaimer while I am playing in this particular sandbox, I would like to add that there are many ways to have a D/s relationship, and this is only portraying one of them.

Apologies for the long break in updates; the holiday and my son's birthday left me with no writing time, and some fest fics needed wrapping up. But I'm back on schedule now, so please enjoy the product of feeding my plot bunnies some fresh carrots.

And thank you, as always, to Lorcalon - the awesome beta that I adore!

* * *

Her ride on the Hogwarts Express was an uneasy one as Hermione returned to the castle at the end of the holiday. After the dream she'd had two nights before, she had gone to her journal in the morning to write the account her Dominant would have expected. But as she'd held the quill in her hand, poised over the page to begin writing, she had frozen. It wasn't the thought of reliving the dream long enough to write about it that gave her pause, although a faint blush had already settled in her cheeks before she'd even begun. Instead, it was the strange swirl of emotions she felt as she considered the dream again.

There had been a sense of want and need throughout the dream as she had been on her knees in front of her Dominant's chair. But beneath that, there had been a current of true desire. Even awake, as she thought over the course of the dream again, it was present; a faint wave of heat that washed over her body and sent her to squirming slightly in her seat. After that, she'd tried to place another face and another body in Snape's place, hoping that it would elicit the same response, but to no avail.

In the end, she'd been unable to bring herself to write a real account of the dream. Instead, she wrote that she'd had one that she wished to discuss with him in person, when she returned from the holiday. It wasn't a much better option, but at least it would give her a few days to prepare a speech of sorts about it. When Bryna hadn't arrived with any letters demanding a full and detailed report, Hermione had taken that as his agreement to her request.

While Ron and Harry passed the train ride back trying to get her talking about her holiday, Hermione buried her nose in a book in an attempt to buy herself some thinking time. She quickly developed a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach as the Hogwarts Express brought them closer to the school and she realized she still hadn't prepared an explanation she was satisfied with. Although she tried to reassure herself that she likely would have nearly another week before she would have to face her Dominant in private, she had a suspicion that he wouldn't be willing to wait so long to hear it.

Stepping off the train at the station, she had half-expected to find him to be the one waiting to escort the students back to the castle; it was both a relief and a disappointment to see Professor McGonagall waiting instead.

"Are you sure everything's alright, Hermione?" Ron asked her as they stepped from the bitter cold wind into the warmth of the castle at last. "You've been really quiet since the train." Harry nodded in agreement beside him as the three of them paused beside a stairwell, letting the other students pass them by.

"I'm fine, you two, really." Both of her friends gave her a disbelieving look, although they at least nodded in acceptance of her answer. "So, should we-"

"Miss Granger," drawled Professor Snape's voice from behind her, cutting off her sentence and sending a quickly suppressed thrill rippling through her as she twisted around to face him. "If you are not otherwise occupied," he said with a brief glance over her head at Harry and Ron, "I require your assistance with a bit of brewing prior to dinner."

Hermione hesitated for a moment and shifted her feet slightly. Before she managed to find her voice, Harry seemed to pick up on her hesitance and piped up from behind her. "What about that _essay_ you have to finish, Hermione?" he asked, and Hermione turned slightly to look at him, her brow furrowed.

"Would you like to attempt that trick again while she drinks a glass of water, Mister Potter, or would you prefer to allow Miss Granger to answer for herself? Fifteen points from Gryffindor," he added for good measure, much to Harry's and Ron's mutual annoyance. With a resigned sigh, Hermione shook her head and looked back up at her Dominant's face with a hint of reluctance in her expression.

"I'm free at the moment, Sir. I'd be happy to help with the brewing."

/-/SSHG/-/

Snape led the way silently towards his quarters, his face and eyes both focused forward and ignoring Hermione's sidelong glances. When he stopped in his private office rather than proceeding through to his rooms, she stood nervously in front of him where he leaned against his desk, forcing herself to look up into his face rather than at her feet shifting nervously on the floor.

"I believe you know why I do not intend to wait nearly another week to speak to you, Miss Granger," Snape said calmly, receiving a nod from his submissive in return. "Since you seem to be on edge enough as it is, perhaps we should begin with the information you have withheld from me about your latest dream?" Swallowing nervously, Hermione nodded a second time, although she didn't begin to speak immediately.

Her eyes dropped to the floor as she struggled to find a place to begin her explanation. A faint blush began to rise in her cheeks as she opened and closed her mouth several times, never uttering more than a syllable or two before stopping herself. The frustration of it brought a wave of childish anger washing over her, and when she stamped her foot in frustration, Snape took a step closer to her and gently grasped her chin in one hand to lift her face upwards again.

"You've told me that you did not wish to write it, but would that be easier for you to do now that you are here?" His voice was soothing, and the tint of pink in Hermione's cheeks deepened slightly as she looked up into his eyes for the first time in nearly two weeks.

"I...I don't think that would help me, Sir," she answered a little more softly than she had meant to, and her tongue darted out to wet her suddenly dry lips. Her Dominant arched one dark eyebrow curiously as he released his hold on her face, although he made no move to step away from her as he spoke again.

"Do you have another suitable solution to your apparent speaking problem then, Hermione?"

The word slipped past her lips before she realized she had even thought it, and even Snape seemed surprised at her suggestion as she answered confidently, "Legilimency."

"You're certain?" he asked, scrutinizing her as though he was looking for any sign of hesitance on her part, but Hermione only nodded after a moment's thought. Apparently satisfied by what he saw, Snape responded by withdrawing his wand from one pocket of his robes and bringing his free hand to cup her jaw again as he met her eyes calmly. "Very well, pet. _Legilimens_."

She'd replayed the images of the dream in her mind countless times over the past two days, but it was nothing compared to seeing them in the clarity they'd had when she had dreamt them. As she watched herself wrapping her lips so eagerly around her Dominant's cock, Hermione shifted her weight from one foot to the other, hoping to ease the flood of warmth that was spreading through her body and currently pooling between her legs. If she'd expected Snape to withdraw after gaining an idea of the content, she was mistaken; his presence remained in her mind as the scene replayed in its entirety, only withdrawing when the sharp tug on her hair put an end to the dream.

His hand had tightened slightly on her chin without either of them realizing it, and as he released her entirely and stepped away, Hermione found herself missing his nearness more than she'd expected. "Sir?" she asked uncertainly as she watched him step around behind his desk and take a seat without looking at her.

"How does all of this make you feel, Hermione?" he asked, the shift back to her first name not going unnoticed by her as she stepped closer to his desk somewhat hesitantly.

"What do you mean?" Snape's dark eyes locked on her own and despite the mask of control he was attempting to slide in place, she could see a hint of something in them that was at once thrilling and terrifying to her. Unconsciously, her tongue darted back across her lips quickly before she brought herself to speak while taking a seat in the lone chair opposite the desk from him. "I enjoy it, Sir, if that's what you're asking me. I have no desire for this to come to an end at the moment, and..." Hermione trailed off and lowered her eyes to her lap and took a steadying breath before she continued, "And if I were to be entirely honest, I believe my interests are beginning to move into more _intimate_ forms of training."

"Look at me," Snape commanded although he didn't need to raise his voice above a murmur. Hermione raised her gaze back to his face and felt her breathing catch as she saw the expression in his eyes. Whatever mask he was attempting to hide behind was proving difficult to maintain for one reason or another and she didn't bother trying to suppress the nervous tremor it brought out in her. "If that is what you want, Hermione, then I would be willing to consider it."


	22. Thinking Things Through

**Disclaimer:** I obviously don't own anything Harry Potter related, and I'm not making any money off the writing of this. As an added disclaimer while I am playing in this particular sandbox, I would like to add that there are many ways to have a D/s relationship, and this is only portraying one of them.

Feed the plot bunnies with carrots reviews, please! It helps the writing process and reminds me that people are still reading, lol.

Thanks as always goes to lorcalon, for being a fantastic beta!

* * *

Hermione straightened in her seat, a mixture of excitement and uncertainty running through her at her Dominant's words. It must have been apparent in her expression, because Snape quickly held up his hand as a sign that he wasn't finished, and she found herself holding her breath somewhat out of fear that he would change his mind now. "I will consider it on one condition, Miss Granger."

"Sir?"

"This is not a decision to be made at the drop of a hat, especially given our current situation. If it is to happen, it will be after not only I have thought about it thoroughly, but you have, as well." Snape met her eyes with an entirely sober expression as he spoke, and Hermione nodded her head slightly in understanding.

"With that in mind," he added, pushing himself up from his chair and leaning slightly over his desk and bringing himself a little nearer to where she sat across from him. "I have a new assignment for you."

/-/SSHG/-/

Hermione made an appearance at dinner that evening more for the sake of Harry and Ron than any real desire to eat. In truth, it was only the fact that her Dominant would know if she had skipped the meal that made her want to eat anything at all with the excited energy that was coursing through her after their meeting. Most of it had been spent in fairly comfortable silence brewing in his private lab, but her mind had been reeling since he had agreed to consider a more sexual aspect of her training.

Her assignment wasn't quite what she'd been hoping for, in the few brief moments she had allowed herself to imagine what he might order her to do. Although, she had the impression that there would be more coming beyond a lengthy essay on why she wished to head down this new route in her training. It seemed too easy; yet, the more she thought about it over dinner, while ignoring Ron and Harry's whinging about Snape docking points before classes had even begun, the more she realized her answer wasn't so simple.

She found Professor Snape attractive, yes, and she certainly felt some form of an emotional attachment to him now. Whether it was due only to her training with him, or something more personal, however, she wasn't sure. Hermione had no desire to jump to the conclusion that she was falling for her Dominant, though his role as her teacher and a man twice her age made little difference to her now, if it ever had. Her reluctance to admit, even to herself, that she might have genuine feelings for him, was more out of a fear of putting herself right out there to risk being rejected unnecessarily, at least until she was entirely certain of her own feelings.

"Hermione?" Harry asked beside her, nudging her in the rib gently with his elbow and startling her out of her musings.

"Oh, what?" she asked, shaking her head briefly and glancing between her two friends for a clue as to what she'd missed.

"We're going to the library when we're done so we can finish our homework," Ron supplied around a mouthful of biscuit, apparently undisturbed by Hermione's lack of attention to the conversation. "Wanted to know if you were coming too."

"Oh," Hermione muttered, glancing down at her hardly touched meal. "Yeah, of course," she added, plucking up half of her sandwich and taking a bite of it as she nodded her head. "Someone has to make sure the two of you don't fail your classes, after all."

/-/SSHG/-/

Severus passed the hours after dinner that night nursing a single tumbler of Ogden's Old and staring into the burning fire in the hearth in his private rooms. His fingers drummed idly against the glass as he listened to the pleasant crackle from the fireplace, his mind wandering over his conversation with his submissive that afternoon. Viewing her dream had affected him, although he'd been careful to keep that fact as hidden as possible as he continued their conversation.

It wasn't anything he hadn't thought about, at least for a brief moment in private before quickly squashing the idea. There was no denying that he was enjoying their exchange, and much as he might try to deny it, even to himself, he was developing an attraction toward the girl. But her status as his student continued to weigh heavily on his conscience. "What do you think I should do?" he said at length, turning to look at Bryna in her cage beside the window. The owl lifted her head from the feathers of her wing that she'd been cleaning when he spoke and hooted at him.

"I've resorted to consulting my bird for advice," Severus muttered, shaking his head and taking a sip from his glass. "This is not a good sign." Bryna hooted again, earning her a glare before she tucked her head back in to her wing and returned to her grooming. Lifting his tumbler slightly, Severus turned it slowly in his hand, allowing the firelight to reflect off the glass as he returned to his thoughts.

He hadn't outlined in their contract that there would be no sexual aspect to her training, partially because she had not ruled it out in the beginning as something she might want. In truth, he wasn't entirely opposed to the idea, only hesitant to give in to it. Hermione Granger was an attractive witch, old enough in years to make her own decisions, and experienced enough to be wise about them. She was no more likely to rush into such a thing than he was, although it was still better to be certain before anything began.

The nagging concerns in the back of his mind resurfaced as he came to that conclusion, reminding him once again that he was still her teacher and a former Death Eater. Rumours would abound if the nature of their relationship ever came to light. It was only the knowledge that his submissive was not the type of witch who had ever participated in girlish gossip and was more inclined to squash rumour than spread it, that finally put that trail of thought to rest. If his being her teacher did not factor in as a concern to her, then he could see no reason to deny her for that reason alone.

As Severus tossed back the last of his Ogden's and rose, he cast one final look at the fire and nearly smiled in satisfaction. What ever decision he would make now would hinge on her answer to her assignment. Experience, with both her study habits and her strong commitment as a submissive to tackle her assignments head-on, had taught him that her answer was likely going to be arriving soon, along with her journal entry for the evening.

/-/SSHG/-/

Hermione's nerves made it nearly impossible for her to sleep that night. She'd hidden behind her Transfiguration book in the library with Harry and Ron while thinking over her assignment and her own feelings. Helping her two friends with their homework had involved minimal input on her part, and with Madam Pince stalking between the shelves of books and tables of studying students, they hadn't attempted to engage her in much conversation. By the time she had been able to slip off to her room for the night, she'd already prepared her answer to her assignment.

Despite the nature of their 'relationship' already being questionable since she was still Snape's student, she couldn't help the nagging feeling that her Dominant might somehow think less of her because she did not view their circumstances as a deterrent. The difference in their ages had been her smallest concern, meaning as good as nothing to her in the end, given all she had been through in recent years. In truth, she was more concerned with how he would handle the knowledge that she was becoming genuinely attracted to him, rather than simply being curious about expanding the areas of her training. She'd been forced to accept, rather early on in her examination of her thoughts and emotions regarding her dream and their relationship as it was, that it was indeed the case that she was attracted to Snape, and the concern that he might disapprove had weighed on her.

After she had finished writing both her entry in her journal and her report for her Dominant, it had been a struggle for her to fall asleep at all. It must have been obvious when she arrived at breakfast, since both Harry and Ron shot her concerned looks as she took her seat at the Gryffindor table. She had dismissed both of them with a smile, though, before reaching for the sugar and proceeding to pour a bit more than usual into her tea in an attempt to compensate for her lack of rest.


	23. Unexpected

**Disclaimer:** I obviously don't own anything Harry Potter related, and I'm not making any money off the writing of this. As an added disclaimer while I am playing in this particular sandbox, I would like to add that there are many ways to have a D/s relationship, and this is only portraying one of them.

Thanks as always goes to lorcalon, for being a fantastic beta!

* * *

She was on her second cup of tea for the morning when the mail arrived in a flurry of owls overhead. Since she hadn't been expecting anything, Hermione nearly missed the dark owl that swooped over her head, dropping a letter without bothering to land before swooping back up toward the opening in the ceiling. Plucking the envelope up off the table, Hermione looked up at the retreating bird, recognizing Bryna in an instant. Rather than open it in front of Harry and Ron, she quickly slipped the letter into a pocket of her school bag, shooting a nervous glance up at the Head Table through her lashes as she did. Although he wasn't looking at her, she swore Snape gave a small nod of approval before she lowered her eyes again.

/-/SSHG/-/

'_I am pleased with the thought and consideration you put into your assignment, pet. However, I would prefer to give you time to prepare yourself before I incorporate this change into your training._

'_Our next session will be at the usual time, Miss Granger. If you have any desire to change your mind, I would recommend you inform me prior to Saturday._'

Returning the letter to its place beneath her journal in the drawer of her desk, Hermione glanced somewhat nervously at the clock beside her bed. She had just short of an hour left before she would have to make her way down to breakfast, and although she'd already showered, the time seemed far too short. Stepping closer to her bed, she frowned down at the selection of clothes she'd tossed across it before her shower, wondering what she should wear to their session.

Despite the cold temperature outside the castle, the warming charms prevented it from being as chilly within the walls. Even in the dungeons, she would be fairly comfortable in a skirt, and not entirely out of place wearing one; Lavender had worn one several times since their return from Christmas hols. Looking over her two options, though, she decided that neither of them would exactly do- her uniform skirt seemed rather inappropriate for their intentions, and the black one she owned leaned a bit on the short side for her to feel comfortable wearing it for the occasion.

After nearly fifteen minutes of going back and forth between various tops and trousers, she finally settled on a tight pair of dark, Muggle jeans and a crisp, white blouse. It seemed more prudent to dress casually enough to not draw attention her way, than to wear something provocative.

When she finally made her way down into the Great Hall for breakfast, Hermione felt unusually self-conscious. Her concerns about raising unwanted attention had dissuaded her from doing anything special to her appearance, and as she poked her fork at the eggs on her plate, she wondered if that had truly been the best decision. Of course, the books she'd read had made receiving a collar to be something much more intense than what she'd gone through with her Professor, so there was only so much she could rely on when it came to their portrayal of things. Still, she couldn't help but second-guess every decision she'd made regarding her appearance for their session.

"What's got you so worked up today?"

The familiar voice caused Hermione's head to whip around, looking over her shoulder at the red-headed witch standing behind her. "Nothing that's any of your business," she answered calmly, turning away to return her attention to her breakfast.

"Come on, Hermione," Ginny sighed, sitting down beside Hermione and leaning in toward her slightly in an attempt to gain the other witch's attention again. "How long are you going to stay mad at me?"

"As long as I please," Hermione said briskly, pushing her plate aside and watching as it vanished to return to the kitchens. "Now, if you'll excuse me-"

"Wait..." Hermione hesitated as she stood, looking at Ginny with a hint of suspicion as the other girl withdrew a small, wrapped box from her school bag. "I kept waiting to give this to you, hoping you'd forgive me first, but since that doesn't seem to be happening..." Ginny set the box down on the table and stood, flashing Hermione an apologetic smile. "Happy Christmas a little late."

Hermione blinked in surprise as Ginny turned to walk away, leaving the gift behind. Uncertainly, Hermione frowned down at the box for a moment. She reached to remove the wrapping, before her eye caught on the watch around her wrist and her eyes widened. Plucking up the gift, she cradled it to her chest as she strode quickly out of the Great Hall toward the dungeons, breaking into a run as soon as she reached the downward staircase.

/-/SSHG/-/

"Miss Granger," Snape greeted as Hermione reached the door to his private office. His eyes darted briefly to the box still clutched to her chest before returning to her face and arching one narrow eyebrow in question.

"Sir," she murmured, ducking her head as an inexplicable blush rose in her cheeks. Slipping into the room, she fidgeted uncertainly with the gift as he took a seat behind his desk. He maintained his curious expression as he gestured for the seat across from him and she sat, her fingers plucking idly at the wrapping paper. "Ginny gave me this at breakfast..."

"Why haven't you opened it? It's certainly easier to show your appreciation of a gift when unwrapping it in front of the giver." Hermione pulled her lower lip between her teeth, keeping her eyes trained on the shiny paper as she plucked open the tape on one corner. "You're uncertain if it's wise to accept a gift from her."

Her head snapped up, blinking in surprise before she finally nodded. "Yes, Sir...I-" Lowering her eyes again, Hermione chewed at her lip again until Snape reached across the desk to tug it free of her teeth with a gentle brush of his thumb.

"That is a terrible habit, pet," he said softly, straightening again and sitting back in his seat as her cheeks flamed. "I do not want to see you doing it again. Now, explain why you're hesitant to open your gift from Miss Weasley."

Hermione sighed softly, looking away as she considered her answer. "She would have attacked me that day," she answered finally. "I'm not sure that I _should_ forgive her for it, let alone whether or not I'm ready to..." Lowering her eyes to the gift in her lap, Hermione frowned. "I'm afraid that opening this and accepting it would be sending her the message that we're all right."

"Have you considered the possibility that you were as much at fault as she was, to begin with?" Snape's expression silenced the angry protest that nearly escaped her as Hermione looked up to meet his gaze. "She jumped to a conclusion and never allowed you to explain, true; but it was _your_ decision to keep your friends entirely in the dark regarding your assistance with my brewing. Telling them that much may not have prevented a similar explosion in the future, but that does not excuse you of at least some culpability this time."

Opening her mouth to snap out a defence, Hermione hesitated at the warning in her Dominant's eyes. Her mouth closed again as she pursed her lips, attempting to push aside her anger as she turned his words over in her mind. After a long moment, she let out a quiet sigh and nodded, lowering her eyes to her lap again. "You're right, Sir...I'm as much at fault as she."

Snape nodded in acknowledgement, before indicating the gift with a wave of his hand. "Now, open your gift so that we can move on with our session, pet. We have things to accomplish today."


	24. New Territory

**Disclaimer:** I obviously don't own anything Harry Potter related, and I'm not making any money off the writing of this. As an added disclaimer while I am playing in this particular sandbox, I would like to add that there are many ways to have a D/s relationship, and this is only portraying one of them.

Thanks as always goes to lorcalon, for being a fantastic beta! And remember, everyone

* * *

With her concerns over Ginny temporarily laid aside, her professor ushered her gently into his private sitting room, taking up his usual chair as she knelt down nervously at his feet. "You're tense," he stated calmly from above her, receiving a shy, embarrassed smile and small nod in answer from her. "Sit here, pet, and turn around." Snape shifted his legs apart slightly, providing her enough space to sit between them, with her back against the chair. Her breath caught when his hands brushed the hair from her neck, shifting it to drape over one shoulder

"Relax, Hermione," he murmured, his tone laced with amusement as his hands curled lightly around her shoulders. Although she nodded in acknowledgement of his words, Hermione's back remained ramrod straight, her muscles tense beneath his fingers as he sighed. Sliding his hands in toward Hermione's neck, Snape pressed the heels of his palms against the knots there, easing the tension from them with each movement of his hand. "Talk to me, pet."

"Sir?" Hermione tried to twist to look over her shoulder, but was stopped when her Dominant's hand tightened around her shoulders.

"You are not quite yourself this morning, little one, and your concerns regarding Miss Weasley were only a fraction of the problem. Talk." Although his voice was not stern, it still held enough command for her to know better than to argue, and Hermione ducked her head slightly to stare at her hands, wringing them lightly in her lap.

"I...I suppose that it's just nervousness, Sir," she answered after a moment, forcing her hands to still as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. His fingers continued working patiently at her shoulders until she felt them begin relaxing. "I wasn't certain what to expect when I arrived, honestly..."

"That mind of yours hast a tendency to work a bit too much," Snape murmured, sliding his hands over her neck and shoulders slowly, searching for any knots that he'd missed during the short massage. "You've made it clear that you are inexperienced, pet; I am not going to push you into sexual service unprepared." Moving his fingers to thread through Hermione's hair, he tugged her head back lightly, allowing it to rest against his knee as he looked down at her, the small wrinkles at the corners of his lips hinting at the smile he suppressed. "Although, that doesn't mean I intend to be too easy on you, either. On your feet, pet."

/-/SSHG/-/

Hermione's breath caught as Snape's hand in her hair tugged her to her feet, leaving her head tilted back and causing her back to arch slightly to relieve some of the pain in her scalp. Her Dominant's low chuckle rumbled in her ear as his other hand moved to her leg, stroking her hip through the fabric of her trousers and moving slowly upward along her side. "S-Sir?" she stammered softly, swallowing the small lump of nervousness that rose in her throat.

"Are you aroused, little one?" Snape asked smoothly, his hand on her side moving inward until his fingers brushed the underside of her breasts through her blouse. Her heart pounded beneath his hand and her breathing quickened slightly when his hand turned downward again and slid back over her stomach. "Answer me, pet."

"_Yes_," Hermione breathed, rolling her hips forward hopefully when Snape's fingers brushed the waistband of her trousers.

"Good girl," Snape murmured, opening the fastenings of Hermione's jeans easily before tugging down the zip. Her breathing quickened in anticipation as he pulled the fabric open, and she pushed her pelvis up toward his hand again. "Patience, pet," he reprimanded lightly, withdrawing his hand and ignoring the desperate whimper that escaped her. Reaching into his robes, Snape withdrew a small, egg-shaped toy. "Are you ready, Hermione?"

Nearly sinking her teeth into her lip again in nervousness, Hermione stopped herself and nodded. "Yes, Sir..."

"Remember your safeword if you become uncomfortable, pet," Snape reminded, sliding his hand and the toy into Hermione's jeans. The fabric of her knickers pulled aside easily, allowing him to slide the toy teasingly through her slick folds.

"S-sir?" Hermione whimpered, bucking her hips hopefully, stilling them when her Dominant's hand removed itself from her hair to slap her arse sharply. Letting out another quiet whine, she breathed slowly and waited, trembling slightly in anticipation as she felt one rounded tip of the toy probing at her entrance. Inhaling sharply as it was pushed slowly into her, her eyes fell closed for a moment to savour the sensation.

"Such a good little slut," Snape purred in her ear as he finally withdrew his hand, leaving the egg nestled in her as he began straightening her clothes. Without his hold on her hair to stop her, Hermione twisted to look over her shoulder at him uncertainly, her question silenced as he reached for his wand. With a wordless flick, she felt the toy begin to vibrate lightly inside her and her eyes widened with a quiet 'oh'.

"If you're a good girl this afternoon, then I will let you come," he continued, gently turning Hermione to face him and smirking up at her pleading expression. "Now, _Down_."

/-/SSHG/-/

Despite his promise that he would not be making the start of her training easy on her, Hermione hadn't expected the extent to which her Dominant would keep her on edge. He'd run her through each of her positions quickly, nearly tripping her up several times, before finally allowing her a moment's rest. When she'd thought that perhaps he was finished teasing her, however, Snape had ordered her onto her hands and knees to fetch objects from one side of his sitting room or the other, changing the speed of the egg vibrating inside her at random with lazy flicks of his wand.

By the end of an hour, she had collapsed at his feet in front of his chair and whimpered, murmuring pleas under her breath until he finally reached a hand down into her hair and silenced her with the gentle touch. He'd been careful to keep the vibration speed just low enough to prevent her from gaining any proper stimulation, but it had done its job well enough and kept her needy and on edge until her desperation had overwhelmed her. Pulling Hermione easily up into his lap, Snape had made quick work of opening her jeans a second time, chuckling in her ear when he found her knickers had been soaked.

Sliding one long finger smoothly into her, he guided the egg out of her, despite the protesting whine that escaped her lips. After all of his teasing, she'd been convinced that would be the end of it; that he would push her away and force her to wait until later for fulfilment. Her face had dropped briefly at the thought, until his hand slipped once again into her knickers and his finger slid over her clit once, teasingly, before pushing slowly into her.

Squeezing her eyes closed, Hermione had bucked her hips into his hand and moaned in satisfaction as he pushed another finger into her. As on edge as he'd kept her over the past hour, it was nearly enough in itself to push her over. One of Snape's arms curled around her waist to help support her when her body began to tremble, his fingers working a steady rhythm in and out of her until her own hands flew up to clutch at his arm. Her nails pressed into his flesh as he drove her over the edge and her orgasm wracked through her, his arm around her like a lifeline as she crumpled back against his chest.

With a murmured cleaning charm, Snape withdrew his hand and straightened her clothing carefully, allowing her to curl up against him once he was finished and stroking his hand over her back soothingly. "You did well, pet," he said against her hair, receiving a gentle nuzzle of her cheek against his shoulder in response. "Such a good girl, Hermione..."

/-/SSHG/-/

"It seems that dinner is nearly upon us," Snape pointed out, after glancing at the clock in the laboratory. "I believe it's time you went on your way, pet."

"I could stay a bit longer if you needed me, Sir," Hermione protested, looking up hopefully from the cauldron she was stirring. Her face fell, however, when her Dominant shook his head and strode over to her table to ease the stirring rod from her fingers.

"I believe you have a matter to attend to with Miss Weasley, Hermione," he told her, the unstated order obvious in his tone. Reluctantly, Hermione nodded, biting down on her lower lip until she saw Snape's hand move. Immediately, she released her lip, reddening it as her teeth scrapped over it quickly. "I will not warn you about doing that again," Snape warned, although his hand lowered to his side again. "Now out with you. I expect a full report of your conversation in your journal this evening."

"Yes, Sir," Hermione said, with more confidence than she felt, as she stepped around him toward the door.

"And Hermione," her Dominant added without raising his voice. Stopping, she turned around to glance uncertainly at him and found Snape smiling slightly down at the cauldron as he stirred the potion she had been brewing. "You made me proud this morning, pet. Bryna will be delivering your reward tonight after supper."

Her cheeks flushing, Hermione nodded, murmuring a quiet, "Thank you, Sir," before ducking out of the lab and retrieving her gift from Ginny from where she'd left it in Snape's office. The dark leather-bound journal had been a surprise, but a welcome one, when she considered all of the loose rolls of parchment floating about her rooms in the Tower with notes from the books her Dominant assigned her. Even if it hadn't been given for that purpose, the thought of it had touched Hermione, and after her discussion with Snape, making peace with her friend no longer seemed like such a terrible idea.

As she made her way up from the dungeons to Gryffindor Tower, Hermione clutched the journal to her chest with a faint smile pulling up the corners of her mouth, torn between moving directly to her room to begin filling the crisp, clean pages and stopping herself long enough to talk to Ginny. The decision was made for her, however, when the redhead came bounding out of the portrait hole and stopped a few feet in front of her. Her eyes darted to the journal in Hermione's hands and back up to her face with a small, hopeful smile.

"Hey," Ginny said awkwardly. "I-" Her words died on her lips as Hermione threw herself at the other girl, wrapping her arms around her and squeezing lightly.

"I'm sorry, Ginny," Hermione said sincerely against her shoulder, her muscles tense with uncertainty when Ginny did not reciprocate the hug. "I should have been more understanding..." Finally, her friend seemed to relax, bringing her arms around Hermione and hugging her back for a moment before both of them stepped away.

"You can be a right git, you know," Ginny told her with a playful smile. Nodding, Hermione let out a quiet chuckle.

"I know... Friends again?" she asked, offering her hand to Ginny and grinning when the other girl clasped it in her own.

"Always were, Hermione," Ginny assured.


	25. Frustrations

**Disclaimer:** I obviously don't own anything Harry Potter related, and I'm not making any money off the writing of this. As an added disclaimer while I am playing in this particular sandbox, I would like to add that there are many ways to have a D/s relationship, and this is only portraying one of them.

Thanks as always goes to lorcalon, for being a fantastic beta! Reviews are love, and help to feed the muse!

* * *

"Sir," Hermione breathed, her teeth sinking instinctively into her lower lip as she suppressed a needy whimper. Immediately, his thumb swiped across her lip gently, pulling it loose from her teeth. Her eyes followed his hand as it withdrew, dropping to one breast and cupping it lightly.

"Something you need, pet?" Severus asked quietly, his gaze flicking briefly to Hermione's before lowering again to her nipple, where he rolled it between two fingers. He pinched it firmly, twisting, and drawing a shuddering gasp from her lips. "Well?" he insisted when Hermione failed to answer, bringing his hand to her other breast and brushing his thumb lightly over her nipple. The nub stiffened beneath the gentle touch, and Hermione arched herself into his hand with another quiet whimper.

"Please, Sir... I need more." Chuckling softly, Severus leaned forward, ducking his head a moment before their lips could brush in favour of scraping his teeth teasingly against Hermione's throat. Her breath hitched as he slid his mouth downward to her shoulder, biting down roughly and sucking the small, trapped bit of flesh between his teeth until it bloomed a lovely shade of red.

He dashed his tongue across the bite mark in a soothing gesture before straightening. Severus met Hermione's glassy eyes calmly, the corners of his mouth twisting slightly into the hint of a smirk as he stepped closer and moulded his body against hers. "_What_ do you need, my little slut?" Severus asked, the slightly breathless quality of his voice the only indication that he was as aroused as she was.

Swallowing thickly, Hermione pressed her hips forward, only able to move slightly with her limbs firmly secured to the corners of the wooden 'x'. Grinding her pelvis hopefully against his groin, she felt his clothed erection press against her in return, for a fleeting moment, before Severus tilted his hips away from her. "You will have to _say_ what you want, Hermione," he reprimanded lightly, slowly sliding his hands downward along the curves of her sides.

"Please," Hermione breathed, her voice taking on a slightly desperate pitch as she leaned her head back, a quiet huff of frustration slipping from her lips. Severus's hands stilled, and she pressed her eyes closed tightly for a moment, hoping he would move. When he continued to remain still, she stopped herself just short of biting her lip again as she let out a whine, lifting her face again and focusing on him with desperately pleading eyes. "Please, _Master_, fuck me..."

/-/SSHG/-/

Hermione jerked up in her bed with a start, taking a long moment to realize that she was alone in her room in Gryffindor Tower. A quick glance at the clock on her bedside table confirmed that she was awake far too early, and she let out an annoyed growl as she flopped back onto her bed, letting her body bounce slightly against the mattress.

She had assumed, when her Dominant had agreed to incorporate a sexual aspect into her training, that it would involve something more than what she had been getting. The weeks and sessions that had passed since they began had certainly contained some sort of sexual order- and she'd received a fair share of assignments of similar nature- but none of it had been entirely _personal_. He had never entered her with anything other than his fingers or some sort of toy, and never allowed her to pleasure him in return.

It had quickly become frustrating to her, when she knew that she wished for so much more, but Hermione had yet to speak up about the situation. She had come close, multiple times, but had always backed down prior to opening her mouth, lest _Severus_ take her to be ungrateful. Or discover that she had ceased thinking of him only as 'Snape' nearly a month earlier.

A small voice in the back of her mind occasionally reminded her that he had not been upset to discover her dreams of him, and that, perhaps, he would not take it badly that she had developed a real attachment to him. However, his continued refusal to be truly intimate with her silenced that suggestion quickly enough, and left her feeling cold and worried how he might take it when the truth came to light. With April half over already, her patience was quickly running out for the obviously slow pace of her training, as her remaining time at Hogwarts quickly began to dwindle down to a matter of weeks.

If she were entirely honest with herself, she was not entirely prepared to leave the school with her growing feelings for Severus weighing on her so heavily. Her options, however, were very few, when she considered them. Not speaking up at all had proved itself out of the question for her, after she'd thought it through the week before; an outright rejection would be better than never knowing if her desire was returned, which left her with only one real choice.

Glancing over at her clock again, Hermione sighed and reached up to brush the back of her hand over her eyes. She had roughly two hours before she would need to make her way down to breakfast, and then only a day full of classes stood between herself and her next session with Severus the following morning. Resolved in her decision, Hermione pushed herself out of bed and ducked quickly into the loo to shower, hoping to wake herself up fully before turning to her journal to begin pouring out her frustrations- and possibly her heart- onto the pages for him to read.

/-/SSHG/-/

'_I would like to make a point of saying that I am incredibly thankful for all aspects of my training; I recognize that even the punishments I have experienced have a place and purpose, and I do not wish to appear ungrateful to you. You are the more experienced of the two of us, and, as my Dominant, you are the one who ultimately sets the pace of my training, and I do recognize this. However, after several weeks of thought, I realize that it would be inappropriate of me to bite my tongue any longer on the matter of the sexual aspects of my training._

_It is not that I am not enjoying the assignments you have given me, or that I wish for them to end; it is quite the opposite, in fact. You had warned me before we began, that you intended to incorporate sexual activity into my training slowly, which was both a relief and a cause for frustration to me. While, on one hand, I have been given an opportunity to gradually adjust to this new aspect of submission, I am also being held back from experiencing everything that I wish to._

_I have learned the hard way that attempting to be vague does not go over well with you, Sir; and, as much as I would like to in this instance, to save myself quite a bit of embarrassment at my admission, I feel that I must say it rather bluntly..._

_I want more. The assignments to journal my fantasies or to touch myself have done more than I expected to expand my comfort level with my desires, and our sessions have aided even more so in that. In the back of my mind, however, I know it is not enough. Not to say that I need more than you can give me, Sir. In truth, I have no interest in what others may have to offer me, but that is another matter, I suppose._

_You have rejected my small advances and offers to pleasure you during our sessions, but that is something that I truly desire to experience. When I say that I want more, it is because I want more than my own pleasure. I want to know how it feels to service you, rather than to always be the focus of your attentions, without an opportunity to reciprocate. Perhaps you will see it as inappropriate, and I will admit that a worry you might has been a large factor in why I have held my tongue this long._

_If what I ask is impossible, I understand, Sir; you need only tell me so, and I will not raise the subject again. It's only that I finally needed to speak my piece, in hopes that you would at least understand._'

Hermione fidgeted idly with her quill as she read over the small entry again, finally satisfied enough with what she had said to close her journal. Rising from her place on the floor, she set it and her quill aside on her desk and stretched her arms lightly, easing the ache that had settled into them from her stiff posture as she wrote. Checking her clock, Hermione saw that she had only a matter of minutes before breakfast would begin in the Great Hall, and she hoisted her bag onto her shoulder.

Her eyes shifted to the journal on her desk as she approached her door, briefly wondering whether removing the page from the book would prevent Severus from seeing what she had written. Shaking her head sharply, she stepped out of her room and closed her door firmly behind her, distancing herself from the idea. For better or worse, she'd spoken her mind; the rest was out of her hands.


	26. Reasons

**Disclaimer:** I obviously don't own anything Harry Potter related, and I'm not making any money off the writing of this. As an added disclaimer while I am playing in this particular sandbox, I would like to add that there are many ways to have a D/s relationship, and this is only portraying one of them.

Thanks as always goes to lorcalon, for being a fantastic beta! Reviews are love, and help to feed the muse!

* * *

'She's a naive child,' Severus thought to himself as he tossed the journal onto his desk. Bringing one hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose, he sighed. "I never should have agreed to this." From across the room, Bryna hooted softly from her perch, and Severus dropped his hand to level a glare at the bird. "She's become unreasonably attached to me, and far too quickly for her own good." Bryna tilted her head to one side, blinking her wide eyes at him.

"This was only meant to be training her. Merlin knows agreeing to anything sexual was questionable on its own, but _this_? I couldn't do this to her, not while she's my student." Bryna ruffled her feathers in agitation, pushing off from her perch and swooping down onto Severus's desk. She landed lightly on one edge of the journal where it had landed, still open, beside a stack of first-year essays. "_What_?" he snapped peevishly.

Offering him another quiet hoot, Bryna gave Severus's finger a nip, seeming to smirk at him as he withdrew his hand from her with a snarl. "Of all the ways to deal with this, I consult my bloody owl, and even she sides against me." Severus sighed, propping his elbows onto the edge of his desk and dropping his head into his hands. "This witch will be the death of me."

/-/SSHG/-/

"Strip."

"Sir?" Hermione looked up at Severus in surprise, blushing as she realized her hesitance could be interpreted as questioning him. Ducking her head, she rose from her knees to begin removing her clothes, folding each piece and setting them aside in a small pile out of the way. Severus remained silent all the while, his dark eyes raking over each new inch of flesh that was revealed.

Once she had finished undressing, Hermione lowered herself to her knees again, glancing up uncertainly through her lashes at her Dominant. To her surprise, she found Severus smiling slightly as he loomed over her, one hand reaching out to stroke her hair briefly in unspoken approval.

"Do you remember your newest position?"

Hermione nodded, unconsciously flexing her hands in anticipation. "I do, Sir."

"Show me," Severus ordered simply. He moved away from her as he spoke, gesturing her forward as he took up a seat in the chair Hermione had been positioned in front of. Rising to her feet again, Hermione felt the blush in her cheeks deepen and slowly begin to spread as she stepped directly in front of his chair. She folded her arms behind her back, clasping her forearms as she pushed her chest slightly outward.

"Not quite." Severus leaned forward and lightly slapped the insides of Hermione's thighs. Hermione adjusted her stance quickly at the touch, shifting her legs a little more than shoulder-width apart. "Good girl. Now, lean forward." Hermione obeyed, her gaze settling anxiously at the pair of clamps Severus removed from the pocket of his robes and dangled from his long fingers.

Taking them in one hand, he brought his other to Hermione's breast, cupping it lightly as he pinched open the clamp and positioned it over the already-stiffened peak of her nipple. "Take a deep breath," he told her, waiting until she began to exhale slowly to ease the clamp closed. Hermione's breath hitched slightly as the teeth bit gently into her flesh, and her eyes darkened as she focused on Severus's face to find him smirking back at her.

"Do you enjoy that, pet?" he asked, maintaining eye contact while repeating the process with her other breast. Hermione let out a soft groan as she nodded in response, the sound turning into a quiet yelp as Severus tugged on the connecting chain of the clamps. "What was that?"

"_Yes, Sir_!"

/-/SSHG/-/

"How are you feeling, pet?"

Hermione shifted in Severus's arms, tilting her face back slightly to smile at him. "Much better now, Sir. I'm not quite sure what happened, but thank you."

Severus reached up to tuck a strand of hair behind Hermione's ear. "You slipped deep into subspace, Hermione. It can make the experience much more powerful and, therefore, much more draining for you, when that happens." Leaning forward, he pressed his lips to her hair briefly. "It was a pleasure for me to take you there."

Hermione hummed softly at his words and nuzzled her cheek against Severus's shoulder. Her hand resting on his chest began to stir, plucking nervously at the fabric of his shirt. "Sir? Would you mind if I..." Unable to bring herself to outright ask, Hermione cut herself off and blushed, turning her face into Severus's chest to hide her embarrassment.

"I had actually intended to speak with you about that, pet." Tucking his hand beneath her chin, Severus gently nudged her face up until she met his eyes. "We need to discuss the entry you wrote two days ago." He watched her throat work to swallow, and an edge of fear work its way into her expression. "I am not upset with you," Severus clarified before Hermione had the opportunity to work herself up. "But we do need to talk about your desires."

"Have I asked for something wrong, Sir?" Hermione asked, her tone taking on an edge of worry. Severus shook his head, brushing his thumb lightly against her cheek.

"Not in itself, pet. But I do not have any intention of exploring those things with you while you remain a student." He watched her expression quickly shift from concern to annoyance, and Hermione slipped herself out of his lap. She folded her arms over her chest defensively, although it seemed more a habit of her anger than an attempt to hide her still-naked body from his view.

"If you have no interest in me in that manner, _Sir_, then you need only tell me as much, rather than give me the run-around." Taken aback by her outburst, Severus silently arched an eyebrow as he met her gaze steadily. Hermione let out a sharp huff of frustration and turned her back to him, reaching for her pile of clothing as she began muttering bitterly to herself. "I should have known better than to speak up about it. At least that way, I could have pretended you- _ah!_"

Hermione's rambling was cut off with a sharp gasp as Severus tangled his fingers in her hair. Giving a sharp tug, he forced her to straighten and tugged her head back until she looked up into his eyes, her anger momentarily replaced by a look of complete submission. Severus brought his other hand up to curve loosely around Hermione's throat, tracing the band of her collar with his thumb. "Do I seem the sort of man who plays games, Miss Granger?"

"N-no, Sir, but-"

"Then, if I had no desire to watch you servicing my cock, I would simply _tell you_ such, rather than tell you that now is not the time." Hermione made a quiet sound of surprise at his words and blinked up at him owlishly.

"You... do want me, then, Sir?" she asked. Rather than answer, Severus pulled her back flush against his chest. Tilting his pelvis forward slightly, he allowed his clothed erection to press against her arse for a moment before stepping back and releasing her from his grip. Hermione turned to face him again, looking disappointed at the loss of contact.

"I do not restrain myself because I have no interest, pet. Only because I know it is what's best for you."

"How?" she snapped, returning to her petulant attitude now that she felt herself on surer footing again. "I want it, as do you. Why shouldn't I be able to experience that with you, Sir?"

"Because I am your teacher, for one matter," Severus replied, sitting back into his chair and watching Hermione calmly. "Consensual or not, I _refuse_ to engage in more than this with a student. Even this much has been a stretch for my conscience, Hermione. What you needed was some form of sexual training, and you are receiving that. You do not _need_ what you are asking for. You only want it."

Hermione's eyes narrowed, and her hands curled into fists at her sides. "How do you know if I only 'want' it? You haven't been using Legilimency on me again, I'd have noticed!"

"I do not need to," Severus said, with a small smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth. "I am your Dominant, Hermione. I can read you without entering your mind, and, while I may not always do so correctly, in this instance, I am certain."

"How?"

"You continue to return." Hermione's eyes widened at the simplicity of the statement, and she lowered her gaze to her feet as a blush rose in her cheeks. "Little one, look at me." She shook her head gently, her hands beginning to flex nervously at her sides. "_Now_," Severus said in a firmer tone.

Hermione raised her eyes to him reluctantly, but stepped closer to his chair when Severus waved her closer. "I will be straight-forward with you, Hermione. I would like nothing more than to give you everything you have asked for, and more. _However_," he added, pulling Hermione gently into his lap again. "For myself and for you, I do not think it would be appropriate to do so now."

"When, then?"

Severus offered her a small smile as he smoothed his hand over her hair. "After your NEWTs, when you have officially finished your schooling, how we proceed will be your decision, pet. If you wish to remain my submissive, then I will not deny you. And if you chose not to return to me, then it will be easier for both of us this way." Hermione's lips turned down at the corners into a frown, and Severus wrapped his arms around her, pulling her against his chest. "I am sorry that I have not given you what you expected, but I also never said that intercourse would be a part of this arrangement."

Sighing softly, Hermione nodded against Severus's shoulder. "I know, Sir... I apologise for behaving so badly about all this, it's just..."

"You wanted it," Severus finished when she trailed off. Placing a light kiss against her forehead, he allowed her to curl herself against his chest comfortably. "I can understand that, little one. Likely more than you realize," he added almost inaudibly.


	27. Time to Think

**Disclaimer:** I obviously don't own anything Harry Potter related, and I'm not making any money off the writing of this. As an added disclaimer while I am playing in this particular sandbox, I would like to add that there are many ways to have a D/s relationship, and this is only portraying one of them.

It is with this chapter that I regretfully inform all of my readers that this fic is **nearly finished**. We have one more official chapter, followed by an epilogue to tie the tale together with a very pretty corset bow. -winks- So keep an eye out, because I don't imagine these final pieces of the puzzle will be long in coming.

Thanks as always goes to lorcalon, for being a fantastic beta! Reviews are love, and help to feed the muse!

* * *

The remainder of her school term passed in the same manner as the previous months. Although they had discussed it, Hermione found herself hard pressed not to express her desire for further sexual contact with Severus. He had begun to assign her weekly tasks to accompany her journal entries, and although he continued to deny her the opportunity to reciprocate, Severus seemed more than happy to tease her to orgasm during their sessions.

May came and went with her life falling into a rut. Each week consisted of the same cycling routine, starting with her classes, followed by furious hours of study and an hour or so to herself, prior to bed, fulfilling her daily tasks for her Dominant. Her Sundays were spent in the Library, surrounded by books and parchment while she juggled coursework and her own studying schedule as the NEWTs grew ever closer. Saturdays had become her only day of relaxation, which she would have happily spent entirely in Severus's rooms or brewing.

Instead, he had taken to ordering her to spend at least half the day with her friends, once their sessions were finished. With the term drawing to a close and her mind preoccupied with her studies and training, Hermione had admittedly been neglecting them, and the opportunity to spend time with the boys was appreciated. Their friendship had become less strained since the make-up with Ginny, and although they had encountered a few tense moments of conversation- primarily when Ron or Harry asked her what she intended to do after the term was over- Hermione enjoyed their time together.

To her disappointment, Severus cancelled their session the weekend prior to her NEWTs, as well as relieving her of all journaling requirements for the week. Hermione had stared at the note Bryna delivered for several minutes before crumpling it angrily in her fist and chucking it into the bin. Stubbornly, she had tried to write an entry for him anyway after her first NEWT test on Monday, only to find herself dozing off mid-way through, by the time she got around to doing so. And by Thursday evening, her journal was the furthest thing from her mind, until Bryna fluttered through the open window of her room.

/-/SSHG/-/

"Sir?" Hermione peeked her head into Severus's private rooms through the open door and frowned when she did not see him inside. Stepping into his office, she glanced around again and strained her ears to listen for him. A quiet sigh slipped from her lips when she could make out no sign of her Dominant within the rooms, and she looked at the chair positioned in front of his desk uncertainly before opting to kneel beside it to wait.

She closed her eyes after a moment and allowed her mind to wander, thinking over the brief letter he had sent with Bryna two days earlier. Severus had made it clear that while she was a student, her training could not progress beyond where it was, but his words in the letter had given her the impression that perhaps he had reconsidered his stance on the matter, now that her NEWTs were finished. Admittedly, the thought that perhaps he had had made sitting through her final examination on Friday more difficult, and Hermione had stopped herself just short of skipping down to the dungeon classroom after breakfast that morning.

Without a clock within her line of sight and failing to wear her watch, Hermione could not be certain how much time passed between her arrival and his. Her eyes fluttered open a moment before Severus entered the room, however, as the sound of his boots on the stone flooring _thud_-ed softly in her ears. A small tremor rippled its way along her spine at the memory of her dreams, which she quickly shook off as Severus stepped into the room and glanced down at her kneeling form just as Hermione raised her face toward him.

"Good morning, Sir."

Her attention flickered away from his face briefly to note with surprise the small gift box that Severus held in his hands. When she returned her gaze to her face, she blushed at the small smile that pulled at his mouth as he stepped around her toward his sitting room, waving her along after him.

"Good morning, pet."

Hermione watched Severus curiously as she followed him, settling back into her kneeling position when he sat in his chair to look down at her. He laid the gift in his lap and reached for her, threading his fingers lightly into her hair and chuckling quietly when Hermione leaned into the touch.

"You are certainly in a pleasant mood this morning," he said, closing his fingers around a handful of her hair. A soft gasp burst from Hermione's lips as he tilted her face back, and her eyes fluttered partially closed as she looked up to meet his gaze. "You've missed this."

"Yes, Sir," Hermione whispered, her tongue dashing across her dry lips. "Very much..." Ignoring her whimper of protest, Severus removed his hand from her hair and smoothed a wayward curl back from her face.

"As did I. I'm sure you understand the necessity, though, pet?" Hermione nodded, earning herself a small pat on the head. "Good girl. Now-" Severus broke off to pluck the box out of his lap and offered it to Hermione. "In honour of completing your NEWTs, and simply because you deserve it, I've gotten you a gift."

The corners of Hermione's mouth turned up into a smile as she accepted the gift. "Thank you, Sir," she murmured as her fingers tugged at the ribbon that held it closed. She felt Severus's eyes remain on her as she opened the box, and her breath hitched as she reached in to gingerly remove the gift.

Her eyes widened a fraction when she recognized the clip she had worn so many months ago, to their first session. Severus had reached back and plucked it from her hair just after placing the gold chain around her neck, and in the rush of their time together, she had never thought to ask for it back. In fact, she had forgotten about it entirely.

A few tears pricked her eyes as she looked it over, examining the new decorations that Severus had added- or had someone else add- to the clip. Several small gemstones had been inset around the teeth, and a spray of pearls and some lace elegantly disguised the clip's handle. Dashing the back of her hand across her eyes, Hermione looked up at Severus and smiled. "Thank you..."

Severus leaned forward and took the clip from her gently, returning it to its box and setting it carefully aside. "You're welcome, little one," he murmured, wrapping his arms around Hermione and pulling her easily up into his lap. Hermione curled up against his chest immediately, laying her head against his shoulder, and Severus let out a small sigh of contentment at her nearness. "You are quite welcome..."

/-/SSHG/-/

"Hermione..." There was a reluctant quality to Severus's tone that drew Hermione's attention back to him, as she finished tugging on her blouse. Their session had gone similarly to their previous ones, and although she had felt a small disappointment at the continued lack of real intimacy, Hermione could not complain. The way Severus said her name, however, caused her to mind to set to worrying as she turned toward him again, her fingers began to fasten the blouse's buttons.

"This is your final week at Hogwarts as a student, you realize?"

Hermione nodded, feeling some of her tension ease. "Yes, Sir."

Severus waved her toward his chair, and Hermione stepped forward, uncertain whether his solemn expression should be encouraging or not. His hand reached out to caress the Transfigured collar around her neck, eliciting a small shiver from Hermione. "We have been juggling two very different dynamics as Dominant and submissive, and Professor and student, over these past months, Hermione. As of Friday evening, that will no longer be necessary. However-" Hermione's expression, which had brightened somewhat at the reminder that her time as his student was nearly over, dropped again.

"If we are to continue _this_," Severus continued, waving his hand at her collar, "Then it must be because you are absolutely certain you wish to do so."

"Sir, of course I-"

"Hush." His voice was firm, and Hermione clamped her mouth shut obediently. Severus was silent for a moment as he took a deep breath, and then wandlessly Transfigured her collar back into its original state. Reaching behind her, Severus unclasped the chain and set his jaw firmly as he removed it from around her neck. "This is my condition to becoming your Dominant again, Hermione. This last week, you will think, free from the influence of your collar, myself, or any sort of assignments or rules I have ever given to you."

Severus met her gaze and the hardness in his eyes softened as he noticed the tears welling in Hermione's. Bringing his hand up, Severus gently brushed away a tear as it began to wind its way down her cheek.

"If you come to me before the train leaves on Saturday, and tell me this is what you desire, then it will be yours. And, if you do not," he added, his voice softening and taking on a faint, pained quality, "then it has been a pleasure to train you, Hermione."


	28. An End & A Beginning

**Disclaimer:** I obviously don't own anything Harry Potter related, and I'm not making any money off the writing of this. As an added disclaimer while I am playing in this particular sandbox, I would like to add that there are many ways to have a D/s relationship, and this is only portraying one of them.

First, an apology to all those who were hoping for an epilogue to follow this. While I was as well, by the time I dotted the last 'i' and crossed the final 't', there was something so perfect and _complete_ to this fic for me that I only feel right saying that the story will end here.

Thank you to everyone who has followed me throughout this journey, to all of those who jumped in along the way, and to anyone who comes along now that the story has been completed. It's been a wonderful ride for me, and I can only hope that you've all enjoyed it as much as I have.

My eternal love and adoration to lorcalon for all of her hard work as a beta and all the time she spent helping me mold this story along the way. I love you, bb!

* * *

"Hermione?" Raising her gaze from her journal, splayed open on the table in front of her, Hermione offered Harry a small smile in greeting. He stepped closer and waved a hand at her journal with a curious expression. "What are you doing in here? Term's over, you _can't_ be studying."

Hermione chuckled softly and shook her head, closing the notebook gently. "Just doing some personal reading." Clutching her journal tightly to her breast, Hermione looked up at Harry again, quickly masking the flicker of sadness she felt at rereading her old entries behind a friendly smile. "Shouldn't you be celebrating with everyone else?"

"That's what I came looking for you for, actually. We're all going to Hogsmeade in an hour, but nobody could find you." Before Hermione could push away from the table, Harry moved closer and pulled out the chair across from her to sit. "Hermione, what's going on?" Her eyes widened slightly and she quickly shook her head to dismiss the question, but Harry raised a hand to stop her. "I don't need to know the details, if you don't want to share them, but _something_ has been wrong ever since we finished our NEWTs..."

"It's noth-"

"Hermione..."

Sighing, Hermione lowered her eyes to the table and frowned. "Do you remember when all of you kept asking what I wanted to do, when we finally left the castle?" She saw Harry nod out of the corner of her eye. "I finally know the answer- at least, part of it- but... if I follow through with it, I don't know if you lot would... accept it." Hermione raised her gaze uncertainly and blushed at Harry's obviously confused expression. "I'm sorry, it's silly..."

"Look, I won't even pretend I know what you're getting at, but _honestly_, Hermione? We're your friends." Harry pushed back from the table and smiled as he stood. "We stick by each other, no matter what." Hermione's expression relaxed slightly at his words, although she pulled her journal tighter to herself. "I'm going to change before everyone starts to leave. Will we see you in Hogsmeade, then?"

"You just might..."

/-/SSHG/-/

Hermione examined her expression carefully in her mirror, turning to one side and then the other, until she had seen herself from nearly every angle.

She had spent the better part of twenty minutes glaring at the contents of her wardrobe, willing them to transform into _anything_ more suitable for celebration than her usual school clothes. By the end of it, as she realized that her time had begun to run out, Hermione had settled for plucking a dark pair of formal jeans and a ruby coloured blouse from the array of items splayed out on her bed. Several flicks of her wand had stripped the sleeves from her blouse and fitted the fabrics more closely to her body, and she smiled at the result as she gave a final turn in front of the mirror.

Casting an anxious glance at the clock beside her bed, Hermione plucked up a small cosmetics bag she had borrowed from Ginny upon returning to her room from the Library. Before she closed the door, her eye caught on the clip Severus had given her during their final session together, resting beside her journal on her desk. Her hands trembled slightly as she walked over to retrieve the clip, but a smile pulled up the corners of her mouth as she carried it with her into the loo and closed the door.

/-/SSHG/-/

The sound of her knuckles rapping against the door echoed slightly in the quiet of the dungeons. Hermione took a deep breath and straightened her spine as she waited for some acknowledgement from the other side. When none came after several moments, she knocked again and caught a faint rustling sound through the door before it swung open and she found herself looking up into Severus's very annoyed black eyes.

His expression shifted in a blink, however, from annoyance to surprise, followed by a brief flicker of something Hermione couldn't quite place. Clenching her hands lightly at her sides to avoid wringing them, Hermione offered him a nervous smile. "Could I... come in?" Severus continued to look at her silently for a moment before he nodded and stepped aside to allow her to move past him into his office.

"If you've come to say goodbye-"

"Goodbye?" Hermione watched Severus continue to hover by the closed door, as though he expected to open it again any moment, and sighed softly. "Severus," she started, smiling to herself when his eyes widened a fraction, "That isn't why I'm here." She kept her gaze focused on Severus's face as she lowered herself smoothly to her knees. Severus stilled at the change, and Hermione had the distinct impression that he was holding his breath as she smiled up at him hopefully. "You said if I told you I wanted this, it was mine..."

His eyes darkened at the same moment he began to move again, stepping away from the door to approach Hermione's kneeling form. Her gaze never wavered from his as he loomed over her, although a small shiver rippled through her when one long-fingered hand reached out to stroke her cheek.

"It would be different than before, Hermione." Severus's attention flickered to Hermione's lips, as his thumb brushed against the lower and they parted instinctively. "What I ask of you will change..." Her tongue dashed out to brush against the pad of his thumb, and Severus stilled as he locked eyes with her again.

"You know my limits, Sir," Hermione said as Severus withdrew his hand. "Anything you ask of me that I can give, I will."

"In exchange for what?" Severus began to circle her slowly, deliberately allowing his boots to softly _thud_ against the stones. "What do you expect to gain from continuing this with me?" To his surprise, rather than balk at the faint hint of accusation in his tone, Hermione turned her face toward him with sincerity shining in her eyes.

"The opportunity to be with you." He halted at her words and looked down at her with obvious surprise. "I've developed feelings for you," Hermione continued when Severus only stared down at her in silence. "I won't attempt to say to what depth, because I won't _know_ without being able to explore them further. But I do want you..." Hermione moved her hands to her lap and clasped them tightly, feeling herself begin to tremble at the gravity of what she'd admitted to. "Please, Severus-"

"You say my name so naturally," Severus said, cutting her off as he reached into her hair and gently removed the clip that pinned it up. He set it aside on his desk before replacing it with his fingers, curling them around a handful of her tresses and tugging upward until Hermione rose unsteadily to her feet.

Without allowing her an opportunity to regain her footing, Severus pushed her roughly against the nearest wall and pressed his body to hers. Hermione shivered and seemed to melt against him as he pinned her in place. Leaning down to bring his lips beside her ear, Severus asked, "How long has it been since I stopped being 'Snape' to you?"

"A few weeks," Hermione breathed. She tilted her head to one side when Severus's lips brushed against her neck, and her hands found their way to his robes, to curl around handfuls of the fabric. "_Please_..."

"Is there anything else that you haven't told me, _pet_?" Severus asked, emphasizing the last word with a gentle nip at the flesh of her throat.

Letting out a soft moan, Hermione clutched more tightly at Severus's robes and attempted to pull him closer. She murmured her answer under her breath and gasped sharply when Severus reminded her of the hand in her hair by tugging it sharply.

"What was that?"

Hermione's eyes fluttered closed as arousal coursed through her and she whimpered, "_Master_."

Severus's breath hitched quietly, and his hand slipped free from her hair to rest against her hip. "Is that what you want?" he asked against her neck, before beginning to mark a trail upward toward her jaw with his lips. He felt her tremble beneath his hands and Hermione turned her face in toward his when his mouth brushed against the corner of her own.

"_Yes_," Hermione breathed, opening her eyes to look at him again. Unfurling her hands from around the fabric of his robes, she raised them to brush her fingers against his face lightly. "Please, Severus..."

"Tomorrow," Severus answered, bringing one hand up to lay over Hermione's against his cheek. Her expression began to fall and he leaned in to press his lips to hers briefly. "We will discuss that tomorrow," he continued after pulling away and offering her a small smile. "Tonight, I would rather just be 'Severus' to you."

Hermione's smile returned and she wrapped her arms around his neck as Severus claimed her lips again. She arched into him and, without thinking, lifted her legs to wrap around him when his hands hooked beneath her arse. Severus groaned against her mouth at the action, and she felt his fingers press roughly into her arse through the fabric of her jeans.

"Little minx," he hissed after breaking away from the kiss. Hermione tried to reclaim his mouth with her own, but Severus nipped at her lip in reprimand and she stopped with a pout. "You shouldn't look at me that way..." Severus's voice dropped to a low murmur as he looked down into Hermione's eyes and squeezed her arse firmly.

"Why not?" Hermione asked breathily, pressing her hips forward and grinding herself against Severus's clothed erection. His answering groan mingled with her own as Severus pressed her tightly back to the wall with his body.

"You're playing with fire, Hermione." Leaning in to bring his mouth beside her ear again, Severus's voice dropped in volume again until it was hardly above a whisper as he asked, "Are you certain you want to continue this?"

She wiggled against him, pressing against his erection again as a shiver rippled through her and she nodded. "_Oh yes_, Severus..."

/-/SSHG/-/

The move to Severus's bedroom happened in a blur, and by the time Hermione fell back against the mattress, she had already been divested of her blouse. Leaning over her, Severus traced the laced boarder of Hermione's bra where it lay against the curve of her breasts, and his thumb brushed over the cup, expertly finding her nipple through the fabric. Hermione gasped softly and arched her back into the touch, only to have Severus withdraw his hand.

"You're a dreadful tease," she murmured cheekily, earning herself a low chuckle from Severus in answer.

"And you," Severus purred, bringing his lips beside her ear, "are a wanton little _slut._" His hands moved to the fastenings of Hermione's jeans as she shivered, and she lifted her hips without prompting when he began to pull the fabric open. Severus removed her jeans and allowed them to drop carelessly to the floor before turning his eyes to Hermione's body again and freezing. He shifted his gaze to her face with some reluctance and saw her watching him with a smirk that was entirely at odds with the deep blush in her cheeks.

"How unexpected," he murmured, placing his hands against Hermione's inner thighs. Kneeling on the edge of the bed between her legs, Severus gently trailed one hand upward until the tips of his fingers brushed against the patch of curls at her quim. "Have you made a habit of dressing this way, Hermione?"

The blush in her cheeks deepened as Hermione shook her head, biting down on her lower lip with a quiet whimper. "A special occasion then?" Severus asked conversationally, reaching his free hand up to pull her lip free of her teeth. His other hand moved to stroke her inner thigh teasingly, awaiting he response.

Hermione rolled her hips upward without speaking and let out a quiet huff when Severus moved his hand further down her thigh. "Please-"

"Answer the question," Severus said with a smirk. "If you do not make a habit of forgetting your knickers, then why tonight?"

"Because I thought you'd enjoy it," Hermione snapped somewhat peevishly. Rather than look affronted by her tone, Severus chuckled and moved his hand to press his palm firmly against her clit.

"That's my girl."

/-/SSHG/-/

Hermione ground herself against Severus's hand, trembling as the heel of his palm rubbed against her sensitive clit. "Please, Severus," she gasped out as a pronounced shiver ripped through her and her body tensed briefly. "I need to... I can't hold off any longer!"

Withdrawing his hand, he shifted his position between her spread legs to lean down over her and curl his hand around the back of her neck. A quiet whimper slipped from her lips as Severus cradled her head and claimed her mouth in a possessive kiss. He used his free hand to nudge Hermione's legs further apart as he positioned himself, sliding the head of his cock teasingly against her folds.

Severus broke away from the kiss a moment later to look down into Hermione's half-lidded eyes. Her cheeks were flushed and her lips swollen from the force of their kiss, and as she met his gaze he could make out the glassy sheen to her eyes. Positioning himself at her entrance, Severus grasped Hermione's jaw firmly. "Come for me," he ordered in a whisper, rolling his hips forward and entering her in one smooth thrust. Hermione's body tensed around him, and her hands scrambled at the bedsheets as a sharp cry burst from her lips.

"Relax, Hermione," Severus murmured in her ear as he stilled above her. Her hands eased their grasp on the bedding first, followed by her eyes peeking open to look up at him. Severus examined her expression closely as he gave the first testing thrust of his hips, moving slowly and watching her face scrunch with a quiet gasp of pain.

Rather than wait until it passed, Hermione ground herself up against him and released a shuddering breath. "Don't stop..." Severus's movements were small at first, waiting for the small flickers of pain across Hermione's face to cease before he allowed himself more. The tension that had entered her body with his first thrust eased slowly, giving way to a steady writhing after a few moments.

Her hands moved to wrap around his back and cling to his shoulders, her nails digging lightly into his flesh. "More," she mewled, bucking her hips upward to meet each of his thrusts. Severus felt the tremor that passed through her when he groaned in response, and he hooked one hand beneath her knee to lift her leg, guiding it onto his shoulder. "_Oh_!"

Hermione's back arched off the bed when Severus thrust into her again, leaving her lips parted in a quiet gasp as he claimed them with his own. They remained locked together for several moments before Severus broke away from the kiss with a low groan. Slipping one hand between them, his fingers sought out Hermione's clit, pressing against it firmly as he began to rub small circles over the bunch of nerves.

"_Severus!_"

"Come for me," Severus growled, his lips hovering just above Hermione's. "_Now_." He leaned in to press his mouth to hers once again as he continued his ministrations, feeling Hermione writhe beneath him a moment longer before her body went suddenly rigid. The sensation of her tightening around his cock sent him over after only a few final thrusts, and Severus dropped his head against Hermione's shoulder as she continued to subtly tremble from the aftershocks of her orgasm.

/-/SSHG/-/

Hermione stretched and sat up in bed, delaying opening her eyes for as long as possible for fear of realizing she had actually fallen asleep in her own bed rather than Severus's. When her eyes finally peeked open and glanced around the room, however, her fear eased and a small smile turned up her lips. She turned toward the space beside her on the bed and felt her mood sink once again when it was both unoccupied and cold.

Momentarily seized by her anger over the thought that Severus had not even slept in the same bed with her, Hermione nearly leapt to her feet in her rush to find him. The door rattled loudly off the wall when she flung it open, jerking Severus's attention away from the issue of the _Daily Prophet_ he had been reading.

"If you did not wish to share a bed with me, _Sir_, you need only have said it," she snapped, remaining in the doorway of the bedroom as she narrowed her eyes at him. Placing her hands on her hips in a defensive stance, Hermione straightened her spine in defiance when Severus's expression hardened from curiosity to disapproval.

"I am quite aware of that, Hermione, given that these are my own rooms." He folded the paper deliberately, maintaining eye contact with her as he laid it aside and rose to his feet. "Now, shall I assume that this outburst was caused by my lack of presence when you awoke?" he asked as he stalked closer, watching Hermione's expression falter slightly.

"Yes..."

"I see." Severus's mouth tightened into a thin line as he stepped up in front of her, bracing one arm against the door-frame as he leaned over her. His free hand moved to Hermione's jaw, gripping it firmly as he kept her face lifted toward his own. "And did it cross your mind that perhaps I simply did not wish to wake you when I arose, in favour of allowing you to sleep?" Hermione's cheeks flushed and she attempted to wrench her face from his hand to look away, but Severus held her firmly in place.

"We will need to talk about your habit of making assumptions, little one." The softness returning to his tone was enough for Hermione to raise her eyes to his again, and his grip on her jaw loosened. "You were exhausted and sleeping comfortably when I woke. I did not see a need to disturb you, but neither could I lay idly in the bed."

Hermione gave a small nod of understanding, and Severus pulled her into his arms. "Relax, pet," he murmured against her hair. "I don't plan on going anywhere."


End file.
